![]() ![]() West Texas Intermediate prices have trended up in recent months but the current price in the low $70s a barrel is a long way from $100 a barrel. Between 20, when the price of West Texas Intermediate - the benchmark price for domestic producers - fluctuated at or around $100 a barrel or more, California saw a modest rise in production. In all likelihood, a spike in global oil prices. What would it take for California’s oil production numbers to rebound? In 2017, renewable sources such as solar and wind accounted for 29.65 percent of in-state electricity generation. State policymakers have instituted a host of measures to promote the renewable energy sector. Transportation is the state’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 37 percent of emissions, according to estimates by the California Air Resources Board. “And the other benefit we’re seeing is that California renewables are playing such a larger and larger role in how we not only turn on our lights but how we move ourselves from Point A to Point B.” “Any time that we can see reduction in the production of fossil fuels is a net positive in terms of the climate,” said Dan Jacobson, state director of Los Angeles-based Environment California. “So the drilling activity in California decreased dramatically over the years and as a result production decreased dramatically too.”Įnvironmental organizations are shedding no tears. “The majors and larger independents were taking their money and putting it (in) places that were more lucrative for them, investment-wise,” Irani said. ![]() Irani said the bigger oil production companies moved to other states. “In California, you’re at at the juncture of two tectonic plates grinding against one another.” “Those places are in the Great Plains, so the layers of oil-bearing rock are relatively horizontal and they extend for long distances,” Hackett said. In addition, Hackett said the geology in California is less amenable to horizontal drilling than other oil-producing states. Heavy oil is richer in carbon than lighter crude and California producers often pump steam into the ground to loosen thick crude so it can rise to the surface. “Oil in California is relatively expensive to produce because a lot of it is heavy and has to be essentially steamed out of the ground,” said David Hackett, president of Stillwater Associates, a transportation energy consulting company in Irvine. In 2017, the state produced 173.2 million barrels - a 56 percent drop, according to the Energy Information Administration. But since then, the figures have consistently dropped each year. In 1985, California field production reached 394 million barrels. In addition, some municipalities and counties have passed outright bans on fracking, noting the concerns environmental groups have about fracking potentially contaminating water supplies.Ĭalifornia’s declining numbers predate the recent oil and gas boom seen in other states. The state does not prohibit hydraulic fracturing but Irani said California has more restrictive rules than many other states. “We do not have the the shale and horizontal drilling boom that’s going on in other states,” said Saeed Irani, president of Irani Engineering, a company headquartered in Sacramento that drills and completes wells for independent petroleum producers. is poised to become the world’s top oil producer, averaging 11.8 million barrels a day by 2019. What’s been called an “energy renaissance” has resulted in such a surge in domestic production that the government this week estimated the U.S. ![]()
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