Wednesday November 30, 2005

Pumping oil in Los Angeles

peakoil.com -> timesonline.co.uk :

The rusting oil derricks that once pumped crude from beneath the streets of Los Angeles are being brought back to life almost 50 years after being abandoned. The derricks - black, hammer-like contraptions that squat over oil wells - were long ago rendered uneconomic by falling petroleum prices and the soaring value of property in Southern California.

But now, with the price of crude oil near a record high and the property market rapidly cooling, Tinseltown has rediscovered its less glamorous economic roots. As one oil industry lawyer once said: "They ruined a perfectly good oilfield by building a city on top of it."

Analysts say that many Los Angeles wells were plugged after giving up only 25 per cent of their oil - even though modern technology allows up to 50 per cent of a reserve to be drained. Now those wells are being hastily reactivated. Indeed, analysts predict that the number of abandoned oil wells throughout California, which stands at about 3,000, will soon drop to zero. There are thought to be about 4,000 active urban oil wells in the greater Los Angeles area.

(2005-11-30 17:38:21 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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