User:Peytong67/Spindletop Oil Field

= Spindletop Oil Field =

The Spindletop oil field is a large hydrocarbon reservoir located in modern-day Jefferson County, Texas within the city of Beaumont. Although the nearby metropolis of Houston some 90 miles west

is considered to be the contemporary epicenter of the worldwide petroleum industry, it was the ambitious drilling of the Spindletop field in the early twentieth century which thrust the oil industry into the modern age, and is widely regarded as the first modern large-scale extraction project anywhere in the world.

Engineer Anthony Francis Lucas (born Antun Lučić; September 9, 1855 – September 2, 1921) became interested in oil exploration in a time when hydrocarbon extraction was considerably low. While working as a salt mine superintended in Louisiana, Lucas familiarized himself with observational relationships between salt, sulfur, natural gas, and oil deposits. After surveying the Sour Spring Mound at the southern portion of Beaumont, Lucas recognized the characteristic shape of a subsurface salt dome and noted evidence of sulphurated hydrogen gas at the apex of the hill.

Upon securing funds and constructing an exploratory well, oil was struck in the early morning on 10 January 1901. A gush of hydrocarbons was sent into the air, and 100,000 barrels of oil per day (an unheard of amount in this time period) erupted 30 meters into the air over the course of nine days until the flow was finally stabilized and collected. This resulted in an outburst of hydrocarbon exploration around the surrounding area, transforming the city of Beaumont into a boomtown and signaling the beginning of both the Texas oil boom as well as the overall petroleum age as the United States immediately surpassed Russia as the largest producer of oil in the world.

Geological Formation of Spindletop
The state of Texas is rich in hydrocarbon deposits owing to a long history of complex geological processes. East Texas, and the Spindletop oil field specifically, is the result of several hundred million years of deposition and burial stages that worked in unison to trap oil in profusion. The first stage was the deposition of the Jurassic-age Louann Salt and associated anhydrite evaporites. About 200 million years ago (during the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic Period) the supercontinent Pangea began to tear apart during an epic continental rift episode that marked the beginning of the formation of Earth’s configuration as we know it today. This process of rifting tore open associated zones of weakness along the southeast Texas region of Pangea where there existed older suture zones from previous collisions with the Africa, Laurentia, and South American plates. By the Middle Jurassic the rifting caused the ancient Gulf of Mexico region to drop away from the surrounding crust as it stretched and thinned, creating a connection to the Atlantic Ocean. This in turn flooded the Gulf as it transitioned to a thin enclosed marginal sea, leading to vast deposits of salt, gypsum, and anhydrite as the hot dry climate worked to evaporate the restricted basin.

The next stage consisted of an influx of organic-rich sediments which is the source of all Texas oil. Towards the end of the Jurassic the Gulf of Mexico had opened up completely to the ocean, bringing in ocean circulation and ceasing the creation of the Louann Salt. As the planet continued to warm, the melting ice sheets added water to the oceans and caused sea levels to rise continuously. An influx of rivers formed that poured into the Gulf and deposited thick layers of organic-rich muds and sands (similar to what is found at the delta fronts of the modern Mississippi River) which would later to go on to be the source of all hydrocarbons. By the Cretaceous period the formation of the Western Interior Seaway left a large portion of continental North America submerged,  and the warm and tropical conditions allowed for the widespread development of carbonate depositions. The third and final stage in the geological history of East Texas lead to the conversion of organic soils to hydrocarbons and allowed for the entrapment of oil and gas to take place towards the subsurface. Toward the end of the Cretaceous some 65 million years ago the widespread Laramide orogeny created a huge wave of uplift that drove a vast regressive phase of the Western Interior Seaway. As the epicontinental seaway was driven back by sedimentation, the coast of Texas began to take its modern form. Loading of the crust atop the Gulf of Mexico began during the rest of the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic where it continues to this day. The initial phase of sedimentation during this time depressed the underlying crust as thick clastic wedges were built out onto the continental shelf atop the older sediments. The depressing Mesozoic layers were pushed further down into the planet, where heat and pressure transformed the organic-rich Mesozoic-Cenozoic-age sediments into hydrocarbons. At the same time the lower Jurassic-age Louann Salt was depressed where it responded by flowing up to form diapirs, which cut through the overlying sediments in the form of subsurface salt domes. These domes, along with faulting, acted as natural traps which worked to contain the hydrocarbons that began to migrate upwards where they collected in the Spindletop oil field region (as well as other areas around East Texas).

Early Exploration
At the turn of the twentieth century the southeast Texas economy was not unlike that of most of the south. Many found work in the ranching or agriculture business. The lumber industry was on the rise, and by the late 1800’s small towns such as Beaumont had already begun investing in new ports along the Sabine River and saw hope in capitalizing on their access to the Gulf of Mexico to establish trade networks for whatever goods they could produce.

Around this time oil was already a growing industry as companies such as Standard Oil were growing in power and influence across the country. Oil, however, had a much different use in the early days of the twentieth century than it holds today. Hydrocarbons were mostly sought after as a means of lubricant or lantern oil. While the first modern internal combustion engine was created in 1876 by Nicolaus Otto, it was very energy-intensive and by the early 1900’s had yet to still prove itself practical with the low rate of oil production across the globe.

It was around this time that Croatian-born Anthony F. Lucas had already established himself as the leading expert on salt dome formations in the United States. After working as a superintended for salt mines around Avery Island, Lucas developed a keen understanding of salt dome dynamics, including the recognizable features they impart on the surface as well as their relationship with natural hydrocarbon products such as oil, gas, and sulfur. In 1899 Lucas visited the area of Beaumont, Texas at the request of an advertisement he saw listed in a trade journal by Pattillo Higgins. Higgins, a self-taught-geologist, had previously worked as a logger in the town of Beaumont but became interested in forming his own brick company with the money he had saved up from working. He required oil for his brick kiln and was looking for a partner with keen subsurface knowledge to help him search for a location to drill.

Together, Lucas and Higgins began scouring the area for signs of oil. By this time it was already known that the region was likely to harbor hydrocarbons; accounts of American Indians using oil from surface seeps and Hernando De Soto caulking his boat with tarry oil near the Sabine Pass in 1543 were well-documented. Pattillo Higgins also knew of the relationship between sulfur and hydrocarbons due to his self-taught knowledge of geology. Lucas and Higgins traveled to a large area known as “Sour Hill Mound,” an area known by locals to possess an off-putting scent that emanated from the Earth. Higgins immediately recognized the smell of sulfur and the presence of seeping mineral oil; Lucas recognized the characteristic evidence of an underground salt dome. Together they made the decision to drill. After rounds of financial setbacks and equipment difficulties, the pair finally began drilling in October 1900.

On the morning of 10 January 1901, the drilling team was able to reach their goal of 350 meters. There was a low rumble. Without any warning, the exploratory well “roared in like a shot from a heavy cannon and spouted oil a hundred feet over the top of the wooden derrick out on the hummock that the world would soon know as Spindletop. This oil discovery changed the world. Before Spindletop, oil was used for lamps and lubrication. The famous gusher of Captain Anthony F. Lucas changed that. It started the liquid fuel age, which brought forth the automobile, airplane, the network of American highways, improved railroads and marine transportation, the era of mass production, and the untold comforts and conveniences.” The pair had found what they were looking for. With just one well in place, The Spindletop oil field was throwing out 100,000 barrels of oil per day (this initial flow rate was greater than that of all other wells in the United States combined).

Significance and Production History
Six months after the first well hit oil there were thirteen gushers atop Sour Hill Mound. The Spindletop oil field produced over 3 million barrels (480,000 m3) of oil in the first year of operation. Companies immediately flocked to Spindletop to try and capitalize on the resources. Land leases were divided and Beaumont transformed into a boomtown, spurred by its already-existing shipping and railroad networks established at the turn of the century to support the logging industry. During this time the population of the region tripled. The end of the second year was marked with more production from over 500 companies, with 285 wells being established. This culminated in over 17 million barrels of oil (2,700,000 m3) (almost a 600% increase from the first year). Russia no longer held the rank as the number one producer of oil, and John D. Rockefeller’s national monopoly on oil was effectively brought to an end.

After 1902 production at Spindletop began to dwindle. The second year saw 17,420,949 barrels produced by the end of the year, but by the end of 1903 it only produced half of this. The rate of drilling had caused the oil field to be exhausted by means of conventional drilling. Four years after the first well struck oil, Spindletop oil field was only producing a combined 10,000 barrels per day (meaning by 1904 every well combined was now only generating 10% of what the first well alone was able to turn out by itself during the first days of exploration).

Spindletop saw a resurgence in 1927 with a new area scouted out that proved to be successful. In this year 21 million barrels were produced. Like the initial boom, this resurgence in oil production slowly dwindled as conventional drilling slowly exhausted the supply (but the area still remained productive until around 1936). Modern stripper wells continue to be drilled in the area to this day, and it is still used as a low-production area for sulfur. During its height the Spindletop oil field was perhaps the largest oil field known in the world. In terms of production it was outmatched. High-extraction exhaust combined with more modern drilling techniques have now rendered it unfavorable for high production (other oil fields in Texas alone, such as the Permian Basin province are more productive with modern techniques that can extract more oil due to the local geology and geometry of trapped hydrocarbons).

Although not as significant in modern times as it was at its peak, the importance of Spindletop oil field is almost incalculable in terms of transforming the economy of both Texas and the world. The excitement following the discovery of a huge reservoir spurred a frenzy of both wildcatting and professional geological exploration across the world. For the first time, oil began to be produced in excess. This brought about the petroleum age which worked to transform inventions such as the internal combustion engine into everyday use. The economy of Texas was transformed as huge companies found their start. Corporations such as Exxon, Texaco, Gulf, and Sun Oil found their start at Spindletop and continue to sit as primary oil producers to this day.