THE HISTORY OF GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING
PART TWO - LEADERS IN PETROLEUM

Chapter 4  -  Twentieth Century in Brief

California took over first place in crude oil production in 1903. The rise of tbe far west had been rapid. Ten years before, California was a weak seventh. The order by states in 1893 was Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, New York, Colorado and California. In 1893, Pennsylvania produced slightly more than nineteen million barrels, California slightly less than half a million barrels and Texas something less than 500 barrels for the year. 

In the year 1893, Edward L. Doheny changed bis profession from mining exploration to oil exploration. A few days after his arrival in Los Angeles, Doheny noticed a wagon hauling street paving material and followed it back to its source of supply. This turned out to be a tar pit about a mile west of downtown Los Angeles, and resembling, one would guess, the La Brea tar pit as it appears today. After looking over the area, Doheny bought a city lot and started to excavate. When he had finished he had dug with pick and shovel a shaft 4 feet by 6 feet to a depth of 460 feet. To anyone but a miner the feat would have appeared impossible. To Doheny it was just another shaft, only vertical. He dipped up four barrels of oil a day from the bottom of his shaft and established the first production from the Los Angeles City oilfield. By l899 there were more than 3000 wells producing oil west of the present Civic Center.

A major oil field is one that will eventually produce more than 100 million barrels of oil. In 1893 there were five major oilfields in the United States; Bradford in Pennsylvania; Allegany in New York; Rangely in Colorado; and Brea-Olinda and McKittrick in California. By 1903, eight more such fields had been added; Spindletop, West Columbia and Sour Lake in Texas; Jennings in Louisiana, and Midway-Sunset, Kern River, Coalinga and Orcutt in California. Possession of six out of the thirteen major oilfields of the United States should have assured California its first place in 1903.

In the year 1903, California was first in oil production, Ohio was second, Texas was third, West Virginia was fourth, Pennsylvania was fifth, Indiana was sixth, New York was s eventh, Kansas was eighth, Louisiana was ninth, Kentucky was tenth, Colorado was eleventh and Oklahoma was twelfth.

California held on to first place in production from 1903 through 1906, giving way to Oklahoma in 1907. Oklahoma skyrocketed to nearly 44 million barrels in 1907 and first place. During the 21 year interval from 1907 to 1927, inclusivc, California and Oklahoma divided first and second place honors almost equally. Oklahoma was in front in 1907 and 1908; California in first place in 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914; Oklahoma back in the driver's seat in 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918; California on top in 1919; Oklahorna in first position in 1920, 1921 and 1922; California came back in front in 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926. Oklahoma not only took first position in 1927 but established its highest yearly total of production for all time at just under 278 million barrels in 1927. Texas took over first place in production in 1928 and has held that position ever since. Texas was third in 1927 but first in 1928.

The Texas high for a single year of production was established in 1956, the total was one billion, one hundred and eight million barrels of crude oil. California in 1903 had taken first place in production with 24 million barrels. Texas produced 46 times as much oil in the year 1956. For 19 years Texas had a production of more than double its nearest competitor, 1943 through 1961. In 1962, Louisiana produced 483 million barrels to 937 million for Texas.

California made its high point in annual production in 1953 with 365 million barrels. Oklahoma was second to Texas in production in 1928, 1933 and 1934 and third to Texas in production in all other years from 1928 through 1945. California was in third place to Texas for three years, second to Texas for twenty seven years and then third to Texas from 1958 until the present. Louisiana took over third position from Oklahoma in 1946 and displaced California in second place in 1958.

Table 1, below, gives crude oil production in Millions of Barrels by the year, at intarvals of ten years, beginning in 1902, for the five leading states.

The United States in the year 1900 had produced a total of a billion barrels of crude oil; it had taken forty years to do it. The seeond billion barrels of oil had been accumulated by 1909, this time only a nine year accomplishment. The third billion came in 1913, the fourth in 1917 and the fifth in 1919. From 1951 through 1962, Texas alone had averaged a billion barrels of oil production per year. We have no production totals past 1962.

The Cumulative Total Production of the ten leading states until January 1, 1963 in billions of barrels is Texas, 25.7; California, 12.6; Oklahoma, 8.6; Louisiana, 6.4; Kansas, 3.5; Illinois, 2.4; Wyoming, 2.2; New Mexico, 1.7; Pennsylvania, 1.2 and Arkansas, 1.1. The Cumulative Total Produetion until January 1, 1963 for the entire United States from the year, 1859, is 70.7 billion barrels.

A dozen years had been required to discover oil in the first ten petroleum states. The period 1859 to 1871 saw the derricks march into ten states to find oil in commercial quantities; Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, California and Indiana. Six more states were added in the 1880s and 1890s; Wyoming, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Louisiana and Alaska came early in the twentieth century, Louisiana in 1901 and Alaska in 1904. Only a few days prior to 1904, another prolific use for petroleum and petroleum products had been born. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers made their first flight at Kittyhawk, North Carolina, soaring to a height of 852 feet.

On December 31, 1904, William Knox D'Arey opened the fabulous Middle East to petroleum with the first producing weIl in the Chiah Surkl district of Persia. The Parma Province of Italy yielded oil in 1907. Egypt found petroleum in 1909. 1911 was memorial. It was in this year that the demand for gasoline first exceeded the demand for kerosene and it also witnessed the first commercial oil for England, a discovery in Nottinghamshire, near Newark. The most momentous happening of that eventful year came on May 15th, when the United States Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company.

In 1912 petroleum was found in commercial quantities in Ecuador and the great Abadan Refinery went into operation in Persia. New Mexico and western Canada struck oil in 1913. Petroleum in eastern Canada was contemporary with the Pennsylvania strike but now the province of Alberta had oil. On July 28, 1914, World War One started in Europe.

In 1914 Montana came into the fold as the twentieth oil producing state with the Cedar Creek oilfield in Fallon and Wibaux counties. Also in 1914, two foreign lands were added, Czeckoslovakia and Pakistan. Albania found oil at Drasciontza in 19l7, while Benedum and Trees brought in the Infantas field in Columbia in 1918. Arkansas became the twenty-first oil state in 1919.

There followed what might be termed a long drought of discoveries because number 22 did not arrive until the 1930s. From 1930 to 1948, the new oil states in order of the date of first discovery were Mississippi, Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Florida, Alabama and Utah. The 1950s were to add five more petroleum states, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, Arizona, and Washington, bringing the grand total to thirty three states. The thirty third state, Washington, first found oil in the year 1957.