View a slideshow of PCEC’s oil operations.
The whirring “whoosh” of cyclically steamed oil wells buzzing on Orcutt Hill is gentle in comparison to the diesel generated “catcha-catcha catcha-catcha” of the conventional oil pump jack known as Folsom 6 on the other side of Pacific Coast Energy Company’s (PCEC) property.
The hill has produced more than 180 million oil barrels’ worth of revenue since 1901, and PCEC is now pushing the hill toward another metamorphosis—one that mimics the cyclic steaming project that transformed the hill’s landscape starting in 2005.
By 2007, PCEC was producing from 96 new cyclically steamed oil wells. That was in addition to the 200 or so conventionally operated wells already producing oil on the site. On March 5, 2014, Santa Barbara County residents weighed in on the draft environmental impact report for PCEC’s latest project, which includes drilling an additional 96 cyclically steamed wells on the site, utilizing infrastructure already in place on the hill.*
Although the majority of folks who spoke at the Betteravia Government Center that night voiced strong support for the project—and lauded the environmental impact report—there were a few who questioned the report and its depth of coverage. Jane Baxter, an Orcutt resident, was concerned about a potential increase in seismic activity that could be caused by an increased use of wastewater injection wells.
Baxter said she had found information that showed a recent uptick in seismic activity in the area. A quick search on the U.S. Geological Survey earthquake mapping system shows that Orcutt has experienced five earthquakes since 2005, four of those were in 2013.
While Baxter connected that increase to wastewater injection wells, the Sun didn’t find any information that confirmed her allegation. PCEC spokesperson Jim Bray said as soon as he got back to the office, he started looking up information about it, “trying to figure out which USGS maps she was referring to.”
“It was news to us,” he said.
The USGS issued a press release in February that said the “rise in seismic activity, especially in the central United States, is not the result of natural processes. Instead the increased seismicity is due to fluid injection associated with new technologies that enable the extraction of oil and gas from previously unproductive reservoirs.” A large quantity of wastewater is associated with those techniques, and disposal of “wastewater by deep injection occasionally results in earthquakes that are large enough to be felt,” the release said.
Bray said that on average, PCEC’s conventional wells conventional produce 98 percent water and 2 percent oil. He added that it’s been that way for years, and that oil operations on the hill have included re-injecting water into the ground for decades.
“It goes back in the same formation it originally came from,” he said, adding: “In our production, strictly brined, produced water is used.”
So all the water that’s used to make steam originated in the formation below Orcutt Hill, and all the water that comes out of the formation in the oil extraction process is re-injected in already permitted wastewater injection wells. Bray said that while those wells would see more use with the new project, there would be no new wastewater injection wells drilled on the property.
The draft impact report didn’t necessarily include seismic activity impact concerns, but it did discuss biological impacts on endangered species, including the yerba santa plant and the tiger salamander, and offered up project alternatives that worked around what’s considered prime habitat for those species. The report also included an alternative that worked around Careaga Canyon, an area that has known oil seepage activity. Those alternatives reduced potential oil production on the proposed project by between 10 and 45 percent.
Dave Cross with the Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce spoke at the meeting, saying that the project alternatives would reduce the number of jobs generated by the project.
“Those project alternatives are not the right alternatives for our community,” he said.
The impact report also discussed greenhouse gas emissions and the potential restrictions that could be placed on the project, but Santa Barbara County doesn’t have an official greenhouse gas emissions limit yet and is currently in the process of coming up with one.
At the meeting, Janet Blevins suggested that the county set the new emissions limit at zero and make that the restriction on the project.
“We need to do this now,” she said. “I think this is 20th century stuff we’re talking about. We’re 15 years into the 21st century, and we need to realize that.”
As far as PCEC’s project is concerned, the steam that would be generated for the proposed wells wouldn’t put the company over what it was permitted for with the original 96 cyclically steamed wells. Bray said the company is twice as efficient as it once was and only uses half the capacity of its three steam generators. In 2007, the company was pumping in six barrels of steam for every one barrel of oil that was produced. Now, PCEC is pushing less than three barrels of steam into wells for that one barrel of produced oil.
The county Planning Department is accepting public comment on the draft until March 26. Email planner Matt Young comments at mayoung@co.santa-barbara.ca.us or call 568-2513.
• Correction: The nature of PCEC’s production was misstated. Wells that produce an average of 98 percent water and 2 percent oil are solely conventional, and don’t include cyclically steam wells. Cyclically steamed wells produce a higher percentage of oil, according to Jim Bray, company spokesperson. Orcutt Hill has produced 180 million—not billion—barrels’ worth of revenue since 1901.
Updated 3/24/25
Contact Managing Editor Camillia Lanham at clanham@santamariasun.com.
PHOTOS BY KAORI FUNAHASHI
This article appears in Mar 12-19, 2015.