...............................

More than nine billion barrels of oil have been produced in the Los Angeles area. There are still more than 30,000 active wells pumping around 230 million barrels of oil a year, making Los Angeles County the second most productive oil county in California. Kern County is number one.

“The history of Los Angeles is intertwined with the use and production of gasoline and oil,” noted an article from the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Culver City, California. “Everyone thinks of Los Angeles as the ultimate car city, but the city’s relationship with petroleum products is far more significant than just consumption.”

Downtown L.A. well sites highlight field trips organized by the Center for Land Use Interpretation: “Urban Crude: The Oil Fields of the Los Angeles Basin.” 

The search for California oil went offshore in 1896 when petroleum companies built piers to reach where oil fields extended into the Pacific Ocean – thus launching the U.S. offshore industry.

North of Los Angeles in Santa Barbara County, the prolific Summerland oil field – also found near asphalt seeps – enticed Henry Williams and his associates to build a pier 300 feet out into the Pacific and mount a standard cable-tool rig on it.

Read more in California Oil Seeps. Also learn about California’s important role in Offshore Petroleum History.