Oil Seeps and Santa Barbara Spill

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://aoghs.org/offshore-history/santabarbara-oil-spill/

Exploring the 1969 offshore disaster and ancient natural petroleum seeps.

A 1969 oil spill from a California offshore platform transformed the
public’s view of the American petroleum industry and helped launch the
modern environmental movement and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ancient natural California seeps continue to leak thousands of tons of
petroleum every day.

On January 28, 1969, after drilling 3,500 feet below the ocean floor, a
Union Oil Company drilling platform six miles off Santa Barbara, suffered
a blowout. Between 80,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels of oil flowed into
the Pacific Ocean and onto beaches, including Summerland — where the U.S.
offshore industry began in 1896 with drilling on oil well piers.

Problems at the Union Oil platform began when roughnecks began to retrieve
the pipe in order to replace a drill bit and pressure became dangerously
low, according to a report by the University of California, Santa Barbara
(UCSB).

California oil seeps newspaper map of 1969 oil spill
“The techniques, equipment and resources necessary to combat an oil spill
of this magnitude did not exist at the time,” notes one expert about the
1969 well blowout.

“A natural gas blowout occurred. An initial attempt to cap the hole was
successful but led to a tremendous buildup of pressure. The expanding mass
created five breaks in an east-west fault on the ocean floor, releasing
oil and gas from deep beneath the earth,” UCSB noted.

It would take workers days to control the well – by pumping drilling mud
down the borehole at a rate of 1,500 barrels an hour. “The techniques,
equipment and resources necessary to combat an oil spill of this magnitude
did not exist at the time,” said UCSB geologist Keith C. Clarke. “On the
eleventh day, chemical mud was successfully used to seal the cracks in the
seafloor, but only after approximately three million gallons of oil
escaped.”

In the spring following the oil spill, Earth Day was born nationwide.
“Many consider the publicity surrounding the oil spill a major impetus to
the environmental movement,” Clarke said.

California oil seeps USGS geological oil seeps map
California’s major petroleum fields are included in this 2010 U.S.
Geological Survey map.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established the following
year — combining several other federal agencies regulating the industry as
public opinion turned against the petroleum industry and offshore
exploration. “Images of spilled oil bubbling to the ocean’s surface and
covering birds and other wildlife have firmly cemented in much of the
public mind that offshore drilling is dangerous,” noted Drew Thornley in
Energy & the Environment: Myths & Facts.

California Oil Seeps daily natural seep image
Natural offshore seeps leak tons of oil every day – and have for thousands
of years. Photo by Dave Valentine, University of California, Santa
Barbara.

“Thus the means by which the U.S. obtains about 25 percent of the nation’s
natural gas production and about 24 percent of its oil production have
become, understandably, linked to environmental degradation,” Thornley
added.

According to the National Research Council, natural geologic processes are
responsible for more than 60 percent of the oil that enters North American
ocean waters — accounting for more than 45 percent of the petroleum that
enters ocean waters worldwide.

Science of Seeps
A 2009 study by Woods Hole and UCSB was the first to quantify the amount
of oil residue in seafloor sediments from natural petroleum seeps off
Santa Barbara. The study estimated the amount of oil in the sediments down
current from the seeps to be the equivalent of approximately 80 Exxon
Valdez oil spills.

California Oil Seeps detailed illustration of seeps
A 2009 study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the
University of California, Santa Barbara, was “the first to quantify the
amount of oil residue in seafloor sediments that result from natural
petroleum seeps off Santa Barbara, California.” This graphic depicts what
happens to the oil from a natural seep.

Researchers found that natural offshore seeps near Goleta, California,
alone have leaked up to 25 tons of oil each day – for the last several
hundred thousand years. It was near there in Santa Barbara County that
beached tar balls indicated the Summerland field extended into the Pacific
– leading turn-of-the-century oil companies to build piers.

California Oil Seeps graphics explain natural oil seeps
“The area around Santa Barbara is very geologically active, because of the
movement of the San Andreas and other faults. Extensive faulting or
rupturing in the Earth allows oil and gas from subterranean reservoirs to
seep up to the seafloor and ultimately into the ocean and to the
atmosphere. But some oil solidifies to create asphalt volcanoes.” – Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Public debate continues about protecting the environment of coastal
California. “Ironically, research shows that drilling can actually reduce
natural seepage, as it relieves the pressure that drives oil and gas up
from ocean floors and into ocean waters,” noted Thornley in his Energy &
the Environment: Myths & Facts.

California Oil Seeps then and now photos of oil piers
“Oil and asphalt seeps in the vicinity of the Summerland field were known
since prehistoric times,” notes Wikipedia about the Summerland Oil Field.
In 1896 – using piers equipped with cable-tool rigs – California oilmen
launched the offshore industry. “The same view in 2009,” Wikipedia adds,
“the piers and oil wells are gone, and the beach is a tourist
destination.”

In 1999, two peer-reviewed studies found that natural seepage in the
northern Santa Barbara Channel “was significantly reduced by oil
production,” he concluded. Researchers found that seepage declined 50
percent over two decades because, “as oil was pumped from the reservoir,
the pressure that drives natural seepage dropped.”

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum educates visitors about California’s
offshore industries, including the diving technologies used in the Santa
Barbara Channel. Exhibits explain the continuing process of oil emerging
from natural seeps in the channel — today visited by tourists in boats.

To protect southern California’s beaches, one community organization, Stop
Oil Seeps California, has advocated lifting the state and federal
moratoriums on offshore oil exploration and production, maintaining that
“only through education can Californians and Americans learn the truth
about the massive amounts of natural oil and gas seepage pollution coming
from offshore Santa Barbara, California’s coastal areas.”

Learn more about offshore exploration and production technologies at the
Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum.

_______________________

Recommended Reading: Slick Policy: Environmental and Science Policy in the
Aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill (2018); Pico Canyon Chronicles:
The Story of California’s Pioneer Oil Field (1985); Drilling Technology in
Nontechnical Language (2012) . Your Amazon purchase benefits the American
Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a
commission from qualifying purchases.

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