THE
Journal of Electricity, Power and Gas
Devoted to the Conversion, Transmission and Distribution of Energy.
Volume XX. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., MAY 2, 1908 No. 18
LIGHTING SYSTEM OF THE ORCUTT OIL FIELDS.
By CLEM A. COPELAND.
Consulting Engineer, Los Angeles, Cal.
The large and deep-lying oil-sand lakes and subterraneangas works, commencing with the southern rim ofthe Santa Maria Valley and stretching away for a dozenmiles southward toward Santa Barbara, contribute some14,600,000 barrels of high gravity refining and fuel oil toCalifornia’s annual production of 40,000,000 barrels.
WEST FRAME OF 2600 FT. SPAN. POWER-HOUSE IN BACKGROUND.
With the assistance of two eight-inch pipe lines 32 milesto Port Harford, a similar line 48 miles across the Isthmusof Panama, and a goodly fleet of vessels, the Union OilCompany scatters this oil from Seattle to San Diego, andfrom New York to Japan. Chile also has a share for theworking of its nitre beds and its railways.
The little towns of Santa Maria and Orcutt receive withopen pipes a tithe of the gas which nature has here stored,and which would otherwise escape the many safety valves,while the steam rig engines have often been run with directgas pressure from the wells.
This land of gas and gushers is difficult of control, and isalways ready to pop off at from 100 to 400 pounds pressurethrough the many 3,000-foot tubes which puncture its depths.When a new gusher is brought in, it sprays the adjacenthills with a glistening shadow of petroleum and is no respecterof persons or property. One new and frisky furyflowed 12,000 barrels per day, and delivered 4,000,000 cubicfeet of gas every 24 hours for four months, gradually droppingto a production of 7,000 barrels, which it maintainedfor nearly a year, finally diminishing to 3,500, and now, afterthree and a third years, is still producing 250 barrels per day,having delivered during this time 3,000,000 barrels of petroleum,and enough gas to last San Francisco for three years.This is, with perhaps one exception, the most remarkablewell in the history of oil industry, and is widely known as“Hartwell No. 1.”
The district contains two groups of wells, one contiguousto Orcutt, and the other near Lompoc. Danger fromfire due to the excessive gas pressure of the Orcutt fields isexceedingly great, as evidenced by the burning of four “rigs”in the first two years of its history, during which time therewere fifteen wells brought into production. The cost of these“rigs” exceeded the cost of the lighting plant, which is describedin these notes, and no fires have since occurred inthe sixty wells now producing. The advisability of the plantis therefore quite patent.
MAP OF ORCUTT OIL FIELDS ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.
The lighting system employed in the Orcutt oil fieldsis perhaps only interesting in illustrating how the methodsemploye