STUDY TITLE: The Petroleum Extraction Industry in Ventura, Santa
Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties, California: Economic, Fiscal,
Institutional, Social, and Historical Considerations

REPORT TITLE: Exploration and Production in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and
San Luis Obispo Counties, California: Oil Well Operators, 1950-1997

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): 14-35-0001-30796

SPONSORING REGION: Pacific

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREAS: Southern California

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: December 1998

COST(S): FY1: \$120,000; FY2: \$200,000; FY3: \$101,000

CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: \$421,000

PROJECT MANAGER(S): Harvey Molotch, Krista Paulsen

AFFILIATION: Ocean and Coastal Policy Center, Marine Science Institute,
University of California, Santa Barbara

ADDRESS: University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Harvey Molotch

ASSOCIATE INVESTIGATORS: Randolph Bergstrom, Perry Shapiro

KEY WORDS: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Southern California,
Petroleum Extraction---Economic Impacts, Petroleum Extraction---Industry
History.

BACKGROUND: MMS requested a historical analysis of the petroleum
extraction industry in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo
counties, California, from 1950 to 2015. Separate, stand-alone reports
on each of the three counties include an analysis of the evolution of
the oil industry and its projected future, its relationships with the
surrounding communities, and its role in a complex economy. We also pay
attention to the regulatory context in which the industry did business
and to the innovations that its participants developed in order to
operate in the natural and social environment, both onshore and
offshore. Further, we detailed in a table format an inventory of all
firms that operated in the tri-county area between 1950 and 1997,
including the fields in which they operated and organizational notes
culled from a number of sources.

OBJECTIVES: Our goal in producing the inventory was to summarize various
data from a number of sources in order to detail comprehensively all of
the firms that operated in the area for the post-World War II period. We
used this information itself as input for reports developed in the
current project. Further, we believe that the information may be useful
to future analyses of the regional oil industry.

DESCRIPTION: We used primary source data contained in the Index of Well
Records at the State of California's Division of Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Resources offices in Orcutt and Ventura to construct the
basic inventory of oil well operators. We supplemented this with
organizational data that we culled from a number of sources, including
industry personnel directories and trade publications, newspapers,
business publications, corporate websites and annual reports, and
reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: As this inventory itself constitutes a primary
document, there are no significant conclusions that we attach to the
findings. We note that a number of the researchers involved in this
study have used the data contained herein as evidence in support of
arguments and descriptions contained in the reports published in
conjunction with this study.

STUDY RESULTS: Again, as this inventory itself constitutes a primary
document, there are no significant conclusions that we attach to the
findings. We note that a number of the researchers involved in this
study have used the data contained herein as evidence in support of
arguments and descriptions contained in the reports published in
conjunction with this study.

STUDY PRODUCTS:

Adamson, Michael R. "Oil Exploration and Production in California's
Santa Barbara and Ventura Basins: The Structure of Industry, 1950-1995."

Adamson, Michael R. "Oil Exploration and Production in California's
Santa Barbara and Ventura Basins: The Persistence of Small Entrepreneurs
in the Regional Oil Industry, 1950-1995."

Adamson, Michael and Randolph Bergstrom. *Exploration and Production in
Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties, California: Oil
Well Operators, 1950-1997.* OCS Study MMS 98-0061.

Beamish, Thomas D. *Silent Spill*. Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of
Sociology. University of California-Santa Barbara.

Beamish, Thomas D. "Silent Spill: Responsible Party, Remedial Agency,
and Community Responses to a Creeping Case of Contamination." A paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological
Association, San Francisco, August 1998.

Beamish, Thomas D, Harvey Molotch, Perry Shapiro and Randolph Bergstrom.
*Petroleum Extraction in San Luis Obispo County, California: An
Industrial History.* OCS Study MMS 98-0049

Beamish, Thomas D. and Krista Paulsen. "The Santa Barbara Channel
Post-Petroleum Economy: Environmental Consulting Proliferates."

Nevarez, Leonard, Harvey Molotch, Perry Shapiro and Randolph Bergstrom.
*Petroleum Extraction in Santa Barbara County, California: An Industrial
History.* OCS Study MMS 98-0048.

Paulsen, Krista, Harvey Molotch, Perry Shapiro and Randolph Bergstrom.
*Petroleum Extraction in Ventura County, California: An Industrial
History.* OCS Study MMS 98-0047.

Romo, Jacqueline. *Women on the Rigs: A Gender Accomplishment*. Masters
thesis. Department of Sociology. University of California-Santa Barbara.

Section 1:

Introduction

The primary source used in the compilation of this inventory was the
Index of Well Records (Form 121) kept at the Second and Third District
offices (Ventura and Orcutt, respectively) of the State of California,
Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources. These forms detail by operator all well activity for a
particular field. The Division has kept these records since 1915. From
this source all operators, fields, and field dates were compiled.

The *Annual Reports of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor* (published in
San Francisco until 1964 and then in Sacramento by the Division of Oil,
Gas, and Geothermal Resources) from 1949-1996, the Personnel Directory
of Conservation Committee of California Oil & Gas Producers from
1965-1998 (published in Los Angeles until the 1990s and now in
Bakersfield), the *Western Petroleum Registry*, Barbara Hall, ed. (Los
Angeles: Chapman Publication Services), from 1976-1984, and *Oil & Gas
Journal* were to used compile the location and type of operator.

A variety of sources were used to compile the organizational notes. In
addition to the sources already noted above, changes of address and
agents (Form 148 3(a)) kept at the Second District office in
Ventura---the Third District office retained no such comparable
data---and "Oil Field News," a column authored by Howard Kegley that
appeared in the *Santa Barbara News-Press* from 1950-1961, provided
useful data on operators.

Company annual reports for the year 1996 provided useful data on current
operations and future directions. The following firms' reports were
consulted: Atlantic Richfield, Benton Oil & Gas, Berry Petroleum,
Chevron, Crystal Oil Company, Exxon, McFarland Energy, Mobil, Nuevo
Energy Company, Occidental Petroleum, Oryx Energy Company, Saba
Petroleum, Santa Fe Energy Resources, Shell, Sun Oil Company, Texaco,
Triton Energy Limited, Union Pacific Resources Group, Unocal.

Also useful were recent 10-K reports filed with the SEC as required
under the 1934 Securities Act for the following firms (with FY in
parentheses): Berry Petroleum (1995), Cabot Corporation (1996), Coastal
Corporation (1996), Daleco Resources (1996), Fortune Petroleum (1996),
Grace Petroleum Corporation (1993), Hallador Corporation (1995), Home
Stake Oil & Gas (1996), McFarland Energy (1995), Nuevo Energy Company
(1996), Pauley Petroleum (1996), Petrominerals (1996), Pyramid Oil
(1995), Reunion Resources (1995), Saba Petroleum (1995, 1996), Sage
Energy (1995), Tesoro Petroleum (1994), Vintage Petroleum (1996), and
Wainoco Oil (1995). These reports were accessed on-line through the
SEC's EDGAR database.

Corporate websites also provided firm-specific historical information.
The following sites were visited: Texaco, Nuevo Energy, Benton Oil &
Gas, Berry Petroleum, Mobil, Pennzoil, Amoco, Elf Aquitaine, Kock
Industries, J.P. Oil, and Pennzoil.

The following secondary sources were also consulted:

Beck, Robert J. and Glenda E. Smith. 1985. "Restructuring helps take
slice out of OGJ group earnings." *Oil and Gas Journal*. May 20.

Beck, Robert J. and Joan Biggs. 1989. "OGJ Special: Downstream earnings
boost 1988 profits of OGJ 400 companies." *Oil and Gas Journal*.
September 25.

Beck, Robert J. and Joan Bonfield Biggs. 1990. "OGJ Special: Total
revenues up, profits down for OGJ 400." *Oil and Gas Journal*. October
8.

Beck, Robert J. and Joan Bonfield Biggs. 1991. "OGJ Special: OGJ 300:
Smaller list, bigger financial totals." *Oil and Gas Journal*. September
30.

Beck, Robert J. and Laurie Bell. 1994. "OGJ Special: OGJ 300: Total
Earnings Rose, Revenues Fell in 1993 for OGJ 300 Companies." *Oil and
Gas Journal*. September 5.

Beck, Robert J. and Laurie Bell. 1995. "OGJ Special: OGJ 300: OGJ 300
Population Shrinks, But Assets Total Grows." *Oil and Gas Journal*.
September 4.

Beck, Robert J. and Laurie Bell. 1996. "OGJ Special: OGJ 200:
Consolidation Shrinks List of U.S. Companies." *Oil and Gas Journal*.
September 2.

Beck, Robert J. and Valerie Sanders. 1992. "OGJ Special: OGJ 300:
Financial, Operating Results Sag for OGJ 300 Companies." *Oil and Gas
Journal*. September 28.

Beck, Robert J. and Valerie Sanders. 1993. "OGJ Special: OGJ 300:
Financial, Operating Results, Assets Total Down for OGJ 300." *Oil and
Gas Journal*. September 20.

Cowan, Don and Rick Hagar. 1983. "Major U.S. oil firms stress
efficiency, productivity." *Oil and Gas Journal*. May 2.

*The Economist.* 1985. "Refining the oil industry." May 11.

*The Economist.* 1985. "The axeman cometh." May 5.

*The Economist.* 1986. "Big Oil turns manic depressive." February 15.

*The Economist.* 1986. "Skidding, all in a row." November 22.

*The Economist.* 1986. "The wasteful games of America's corporate
raiders." June 1.

*The Economist.* 1987. "An industry with little to gush about." January
24.

*The Economist.* 1987. "Capping Big Oil's gusher." January 17.

*The Economist.* 1987. "How Texaco lost sight of its star." April 18.

*The Economist.* 1987. "Royal Dutch/Shell's split personality." June 27.

*The Economist.* 1987. "Whatever happened to Getty and Gulf?." February
21.

*The Economist.* 1989. "Lean machines." September 23.

*The Economist.* 1993. "America's oilmen should cheer up." May 1.

*The Economist.* 1997. "Texaco: Drilling again." November 8.

Edgar, Susan E., ed. 1994. *Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private
and Public Companies*. Detroit. Gele Research, Inc.

Ewing, Terzah. 1997. "Texaco to Acquire Monterey Resources." *Wall
Street Journal*. August 19.

Frank, Kenny A. and Paul F. Lambert. 1985 *Early California Oil: A
Photographic History, 1865-1940*. College Station. Texas A & M
University Press.

Hast, Adeli, ed. 1991. *International Directory of Company Histories*.
Volume IV. Chicago. St. James Press.

Johnson, Arthur Menzies. 1983. *The Challenge of Change: The Sun Oil
Company, 1945-1977*. Columbus. Ohio State University Press.

Jones, Charles S. 1972. *From the Rio Grande to the Arctic: The Story of
the Richfield Oil Corporation*. Norman. University of Oklahoma Press.

Kegley, Howard. 1951. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*. May
12.

Kegley, Howard. 1952. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
September 19.

Kegley, Howard. 1953. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
September 18.

Kegley, Howard. 1953. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
October 7.

Kegley, Howard. 1954. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*. May
3.

Kegley, Howard. 1955. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
January 8.

Kegley, Howard. 1958. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*. May
22.

Kegley, Howard. 1958. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
November 12.

Kegley, Howard. 1958. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
November 24.

Kegley, Howard. 1959. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
February 11.

Kegley, Howard. 1959. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*.
December 26.

Kegley, Howard. 1960. "Oil Field News." *Santa Barbara News-Press*. May
8.

Kepos, Paula, ed. 1993. *International Directory of Company Histories*.
Volume VII. Detroit. St. James Press.

Kinney, Gene T. 1962. "What's behind the rash of sellouts by oil
producers." *Oil and Gas Journal*. January 22.

Kinney, Gene T. 1964. "Merger prospects harder to find." *Oil and Gas
Journal*. November 23.

Kraul, Chris. 1997. "Shell, Mobil to Combine Oil Fields in State." *Los
Angeles Times*. 3 June.

Lenzner, Robert. 1985. *The Great Getty: The Life and Loves of J. Paul
Getty---Richest Man in the World*. New York. Crown Publishers, Inc.

Nelson, Robert. 1987. *Old Town Orcutt*. Orcutt, Calif. Orcutt
Historical Committee.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1954. "New Company Organized." March 8.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1954. "Standard of California\...Still Growing at
75." September 6.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1955. "Directors Back Merger." January 31.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1955. "Sunray Woos Mid-Continent." January 24.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1956. "Union Absorbs Los Nietos." September 17.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1960. "Why Socony Mobil Reorganized." February 1.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1961. "Continental-Douglas Merger Approved."
February 20.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1961. "Honolulu Sale finally wrapped up after
lengthy delay." October 23.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1961. "Monterey Stockholders Approve Sale."
January 9.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1962. "Gulf to Buy West Coast Firm." March 12.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1963. "Humble's merger proves profitable, Davis
says." October 14.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1964. "Majors, chemical firms want to buy
reserves." November 23.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Atlantic reorganizes to cover broader
base." January 10.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Big year ahead for Atlantic Refining."
January 3.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Justice eyes Tidewater-Phillips deal."
April 4.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Let Phillips fight, not buy, U.S. urges."
August 15.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Oil merger deals hit new high in '65."
March 14.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Phillips wins again in Tidewater scrap."
August 29.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Phillips-Tidewater deal clears hurdle."
July 18.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1966. "Why oil companies merge." April 18.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1967. "Directors approve Tidewater merger." July
31.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1967. "Tidewater name may disappear." June 19.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1968. "Sun E&P begins independent operations."
November 7.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1968. "Sun, Sunray merger finally complete."
November 4.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1979. "Getty offers \$631 million for Reserve."
October 22.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1980. "Phillips to acquire Great Basins." March
24.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "DuPont wins Conoco takeover fight." August
10.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "DuPont, Conoco agree to big merger." July
13.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "KPC completes takeover of Santa Fe."
December 21.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "Kuwait to buy Santa Fe for \$2.5 billion."
October 12.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "Marathon to acquire Husky Oil Co."
November 2.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1981. "Mobil plans to buy 25% of U.S. Steel."
December 14.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1982. "Marathon owners okay merger with U.S.
Steel." March 22.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1982. "Occidental/Cities merger complete."
December 13.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1982. "Oxy-Cities combine will cut spending."
November 22.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1983. "OGJ Report: The OGJ 400." October 17.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "FTC approves Mobil's acquisition of
Superior." May 21.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "Marathon buys Husky's upstream assets."
June 11.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "Mergers of U.S. firms advance on several
fronts." July 16.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "Mergers, acquisitions hit rapid pace in
U.S." June 25.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "OGJ Report: The OGJ 400: Big firms do
well; most small ones don't." September 10.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "Phillips battle paces merger activity."
December 17.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1984. "Plans unveiled for Chevron/Gulf
operations." December 3.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1985. "ARCO: Industry in era of fundamental
change." May 13.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1985. "OGJ Report: OGJ 400 reflects industry's
restructuring." September 9.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1985. "Three firms outline more restructuring
moves." May 20.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1986. "Hard times spawn more adjustments." May
12.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1986. "Oxy plans \$1.4 billion in asset
purchases, sales." May 26.

*Oil and Gas Journal*. 1988. "Sun exits U.S. upstream in restructuring
move." July 18.

Parker, Marcia A. 1984. "Industry braces for new round of major oil firm
mergers." *Oil and Gas Journal*. November 12.

Pederson, Barbara L. 1990. *A Century of Spirit: Unocal, 1890-1990*. Los
Angeles. Unocal Corporation.

*Santa Barbara News-Press*. 1958. "Signal Oil, Hancock Merger OKd."
December 5.

*Santa Barbara News-Press*. 1959. "Gas Price Boost Seen by Mosher." June
7.

Smith, Glenda. 1986. "OGJ Report: Fiscal returns for OGJ 400 mixed."
*Oil and Gas Journal*. September 8.

Smith, Glenda. 1987. "OGJ Report: Fiscal 1986 returns for OGJ 400
petroleum companies reflect tough upstream year." *Oil and Gas Journal*.
September 21.

Smith, Glenda. 1988. "OGJ Report: More companies in OGJ 400 made more
money in fiscal 1987." *Oil and Gas Journal*. September 12.

Spence, Hartzell. 1962. *Portrait in Oil: How the Ohio Oil Company Grew
to Become Marathon*. 1^st^ edition. New York. McGraw-Hill.

Stormont, D.H. 1954. "Monterey---'Big' Producer in 3 Years." *Oil and
Gas Journal*. April 5.

Tompkins, Walker A. 1964. *Little Giant of Signal Hill: An Adventure in
American Enterprise*. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, Inc.

West, Jim and Glenda Smith. 1984. "OGJ Report: Independent Operations:
Independent sector slowly recovering." *Oil and Gas Journal*. October
22.

West, Jim. 1986. "OGJ Report: Independent Operations: Crash of '86 jolts
independents' operations." *Oil and Gas Journal*. October 27.

West, Jim. 1987. "OGJ Report: Independent Operations: Independent
operators begin to see first signs of a gradual recovery." *Oil and Gas
Journal*. October 21.

West, Jim. 1988. "OGJ Report: Independent Operations: Weak prices slow
economic recovery for U.S. independent producers." *Oil and Gas
Journal*. October 17.

West, Jim. 1989. "OGJ Report: Independent Operations: Independents
maintain slow recovery." *Oil and Gas Journal*. October 23.

Several points regarding the information provided in each column may be
useful to the reader:

**Operating Organization**: Any organization that drilled or operated an
oil well in the Tri-County area from 1950-1995. Note that gas fields
have been excluded. Data more recent than 1995 is included, but no
attempt was made to provide complete coverage of this period. Royalty
holders or other interests whose gains derived from the production of
the well are not included. Entities superseded by trusts or by a
different level of organization as the result of a reorganization are
listed in parentheses below the operator name. Name changes also noted
in parentheses as well.

**Organization Type**: Corporation, partnership (of various sorts), or
proprietor.

**Where Located**: Location of the organization's principal executive
offices. Successive locations may be listed if the firm moved.

**First Ref**: The year of the first notice to drill or transfer
referenced *in the sources consulted*. Actual activity may pre-date the
first reference. For actual activity that pre-dated 1915, the entry
"1915\*" is provided unless a source other then the index of Well
Records verified actual activity prior to 1915.

**Last Ref**: The year of the last reference *in the sources consulted*.
Unless the well(s) is(are) transferred, this this date refers to the
date of the last well that the operator abandoned in the field or
county. The well(s) may be standing, "potentially productive", idle, or
shut-in, to use the nomenclature of the Division of Oil and Gas. Hence,
the last reference does not necessarily infer actual production.
Operators were assumed to retain control over an asset until it was
abandoned. If the field has been left blank, the operator as of 1995
still retained assets in the field, according to available sources.

**County**: Ventura (VC), Santa Barbara (SB), or San Luis Obispo (SLO).

**Field or county**: The location of the drilling activity. For a field
reference, this refers to the field as is designated by the Division of
Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources as of 1997. The word "county" denotes
exploratory drilling that failed to develop oil production. Note that
there is some built-in anachronism here, for field designations followed
successful discoveries and then are carried back through time. In
addition, some fields were created by splitting existing fields into two
or more fields. For instance, Ventura county's Shiells Canyon and San
Miguelito fields were created by splitting the Bardsdale and Rincon
fields, respectively, into separate fields. All activity that occurred
in the former field was then designated to the new field.

**Organizational Notes**: For small operators, this column denotes the
entity's principals and agents for the duration of its tri-county
presence. For partnerships and corporations, large and small, this
column also includes (if gathered) the year the firm was founded, any
name changes, and merger & acquisition activity affecting the
organization. In most cases, information regarding mergers and
acquisitions will be found under the firm that was acquired (rather than
under the purchaser). For instance, information regarding the
Hancock-Signal merger can be found under Hancock\--the firm that Signal
bought. For public, ongoing entities as of the end of 1995 asset,
revenue, and net income are given, if reported. For large organizations,
other information regarding restructuring or strategies may be given.
For small to medium entities whose primary activities derived from lease
transfers rather than drilling, the lease transfers are given in many
cases. For the largest firms, all of whom drilled hundreds of wells, it
is in most cases implicit in the data that most wells in each field were
drilled by the entity itself. Hence, lease transfers are omitted. Only
recently have most large operators onshore come by their wells by way of
transfer. These are so noted. Local field and district offices for
independent operators are listed in many cases, but not for major
operators, all of which had local field offices; many of them had local
district or regional offices as well. In the text, "exploration and
production" has been abbreviated to "E & P" and fiscal year has been
abbreviated to "FY". OGJ refers to *Oil & Gas Journal*. The asset,
revenue, and net income rankings for FY 1995 are for public firms with
U.S. production operations only.

Organizational information could not be obtained for all operators. This
was particularly so in cases where the operator drilled one or more
wells that did not secure production. That is, they entered and exited
the industry before any directory or other source detailed the specifics
of their enterprise.

If the reader would like to amend or supplement this inventory, please
send any information to: Chief, Environmental Studies Section, Minerals
Management Service, 770 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo, CA, 93010.