Oil is found in 18 of California's 58 counties. Kern County, is one of the largest oil production places in the United States. Because of all the people living in California, we use more oil each day than our state's wells can produce. In fact, we only get one-half of our oil from wells in California. The rest comes from Alaska and other countries.
Oil is carried by pipelines and in large tanker ships.
These bring the crude oil to a refinery to be changed into products like gasoline, jet fuel for our planes, and diesel fuel that powers the big semi trucks we see on the highways. Oil is burned in factories and power plants to make electricity. Natural gas is pumped, just like oil, from wells that tap into pockets below ground. Because natural gas usually has no smell, it is put into storage tanks and mixed with a chemical that gives it a strong odor. This is done as a safety measure.