[Clearview] [H.N.] [HEP] [Physics] [UCSB]

On the Oil at Beverly Hills High

A bit of information that comes up repeatedly concerning Clearview is the oil extraction at Beverly Hills High School (BHHS). Some people say, if oil extraction is OK at BHHS, won't it be OK at UCSB?

The Clearview oil extraction facility, proposed by Mobil Oil Corporation for a site on the UCSB campus, is far bigger than the extraction facility at BHHS. Also, the Clearview facility would process lethal hydrogen sulfide in far higher concentration than processed at BHHS. Clearview would include a ground flare, which would be more disruptive than anything at BHHS.

Specifically,
  1. About 740 barrels of oil/day (bbl/day) are extracted at BHHS; it would take 31 BHHS oil facilities to equal Clearview's maximum planned oil throughput of 22803 bbl/day, or 20 BHHS's to equal Clearview's average of 15110 bbl/day.
  2. About 330 thousand cubic feet/day (Mcf/day) of natural gas are extracted at BHHS; it would take 41 BHHS's to match Clearview's maximum gas extraction of 13445 Mcf/day, and 30 BHHS's to match Clearview's average of 9806 Mcf/day.
  3. The natural gas at BHHS has about 10 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen sulfide; this is 1000-2000 times less than the level of 10,000-20,000 ppm in Clearview natural gas.
  4. The BHHS facility has no flare. Clearview's flare is a 60 feet high, 6 stories, and when operating, would emit 700 lbs/hour of Sulfur Oxides and 330 lbs/hour of Carbon Monoxide.
The operator of the BHHS facility is Venoco, Inc., located in Santa Barbara at 217 State Street (805)-684-2316.

The name of the field extracted through BHHS is the `Beverly Hills Field, West Area'. A lot more petroleum is extracted from the `Beverly Hills Field, East Area', (for oil, East = 3 times West, for natural gas, East = 4.4 times West); however, the East extraction is through wells located in Los Angeles, not Beverly Hills.

[Clearview] [H.N.] [HEP] [Physics] [UCSB]

hnn@charm.physics.ucsb.edu, 8/1/95