California’s oil patch
Bruce Holmes sank this well a few years ago in Maricopa, Calif., after scraping together $250,000 to drill when oil sold for just $25 a barrel. Now it fetches more than $115 a barrel, bringing him $3,000 a day. “The oilman, the bootlegger, the pornographer,’’ Holmes said. “People utilize the services we provide, then curse us for providing them.’’ (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Allen Miller talks about his work as a technician for a contractor that works exclusively for Chevron in the oil fields surrounding the small town of McKittrick, Calif., just north of Taft in oil country. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Painted parts of pumps and derricks decorate downtown Taft, Calif., where the heritage of oil runs deep in Kern County. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Claude Hehn, 51, leaves the Penny Bar and cafe at the McKittrick Hotel after lunch and a discussion about work in the oil fields that surround the small town of McKittrick. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Michelle Arnold, a sales manager for San Joaquin Dodge in Taft, sits with Jim Baird in front of the dealership. It may have to close its doors soon because of a drop in vehicle sales. Baird retired recently after 30 years in the oil fields. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
With the Temblor Mountains as a backdrop, working oil pumps can be seen from California Highway 33. The road crosses the oil-rich towns west of Bakersfield in Kern County. The region yields more than 70% of all the oil produced in California. It pours out more oil than all but three states. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
A pipe marks the center of a well called the Lakeview gusher, whose ruins sit in the heart of California’s oil patch. America’s biggest gusher erupted here in 1910 and for a year spewed as much as 100,000 barrels a day into an oozing, black lake. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
