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Law, Jan (audio interview #4 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This fourth interview was conducted in Law's office. When the interview was completed, Briegel collected the materials Law discussed and took them back to CSULB library. 12/1/1983
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- SUBJECT BIO - Jan Law was a petroleum engineer who demonstrated that oil production in Long Beach harbor caused subsidence there. While other geologists and engineers hypothesized about what was causing the land under the city to sink, Law conducted experiments that demonstrated in which underground, oil bearing strata the sinking was occurring. In this series of four interviews, Law describes his role in both the scientific and public relations struggle to stop subsidence. He describes and evaluates many studies, including some that he wrote himself, of the causes, extent and results of the sinking. He collected many of them, along with photographs and other materials, and has donated them to the CSULB library. He predicts that those who have to deal with the continuing problems of subsidence will come to the library to consult his collection. In the interview, he also discusses other areas where subsidence was suspected to be a problem and other clients he worked for as a consulting petroleum engineer. At the end of each interview session, the interviewer collected the materials Law discussed and took them back to CSULB library. An inventory of those materials, prepared by CSULB librarian Wendy Culotta, is also <a href="http://www.csulb.edu/projects/voaha/docs/JANLAW.pdf">available on this web site</a>. The interviews were conducted as part of a project to study the impact of the discovery of oil on the development of Long Beach. TOPICS - US Navy; subsidence; injection; Sam Roberts; Pacific Fire Rating Bureau; Atomic Energy Committee Desalting Plant; and subsidence studies;subsidence studies; subsidence; Wilmington earthquake; Charles Richter; Raymond Kealor; Goose Creek oil field; unitization; Propositions 4 and 5; and American Petroleum Institute;subsidence; Long Beach harbor; unitization; and subsidence studies;
- *** File: subjlaw10.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:04)... Brief introduction In 1949, officials at the US Naval Base in Los Angeles developed a unique way of posting their benchmark elevations using a large piece of paper, like a billboard. The Navy established a single source for benchmark elevations and provided a finality to the measurements. The benchmarks were principally prepared by the Navy and organized by traverse. There were 40 stations along a traverse. (4:04-9:14)... The tide gauge on the hard rock of the outer harbor of San Pedro remained stable for 21 years. This one seemed stable compared with other tidal gauges in various locations that had existed for longer than 21 years. As a result, the San Pedro tidal gauge was declared official and marked the beginning of all elevations. A traverse is a line of elevations established by the Coast Geodetic Survey starting at a benchmark. (9:14-13:18)... Law's report on the rate of subsidence forming a bell-shaped curved came about as a result of Sam Roberts' interest in whether or not injection was stopping subsidence. Subsidence was slowing down perceptibly but there was no agreement about why it was happening. Roberts didn't want to continue injection if it wasn't making any difference. In the course of injection, rebound occurred. The land that had sunk, rose above the level it had been before subsidence. When this happened, it proved that injection had an influence on the rate of subsidence. The point of Law's paper was that there were only 2 more feet of subsidence left, and he proposed to the Chamber of Commerce that only 2 more feet would not be of much consequence after the land had already sunk 28 feet. The question of how much subsidence would occur without injection has not been answered, and Law believes that many people are not interested in addressing the issue any longer. (13:18-17:39)... Among the papers Law is donating to CSULB library is a report titled, "Repressurization Progress Report Shipyard Area Flood, Wilmington Oil Field," which was prepared by the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, as Report #5, on October 31, 1959. And there are other documents regarding the Baldwin Hills Reservoir disaster, which show benchmark locations and traverses. In addition, there is the Pacific Fire Rating Bureau report that encouraged companies to refuse to write policies in the downtown Long Beach area. (17:39-19:17)... Among the items Law is donating to CSULB library is a draft copy of "Quantitative Determination of Subsidence Arrestment within the Harbor Area." This study was authorized by Sam Roberts, an assistant to the mayor. The request for this report occurred during the transition of oil production from the Harbor Department into the Department of Oil Properties under the direct jurisdiction of the city council. (19:17-21:49)... In collaboration with Dennis Allen, Law conducted a study on behalf of Bechtel for the Atomic Energy Commission regarding an proposed desalting plant offshore from Huntington Beach and the Bolsa Gun Club, which is now Bolsa State Beach. A bowl of subsidence was located offshore from Huntington Beach and the report identified the subsidence vulnerability of building an atomic plant at the location. (21:49-23:12)... The Long Beach Harbor Department prepared a collection of elevations on a semiannual basis. The US Navy rejected the way these elevations were presented. (23:12-31:30)... Stanford Research Institute conducted a study on the condition of oil well casing as it penetrated oil zones. Subsidence deformed the casing. If the land consolidates, as it does when land subsides, the casing is shortened. There is an extensive library of studies of casing failures compiled by various petroleum engineers employed by oil companies. These studies were compiled into a study entitled "Casing Failures at 1600 Feet." End of tape *** File: subjlaw11.mp3 (0:00-7:59)... Interview begins abruptly with Law discussing subsidence near a graving dock. Law describes petroleum engineering as a form of plumbing because engineers are constantly placing new pipes inside and outside the oil zone to drain oil sand. (7:59-10:52)... Law describes the lithification process of mud. The mud at the Wilmington slough was originally clay and there was also slime in the slough. Mud also can include chemicals and artificial materials. While working as a roughneck for Union Oil in 1933, he observed that the company used pure mud at Kettleman Hills and when it wore out, it was discarded and new mud was brought in. (10:52-13:00)... Among the items Law is donating to CSULB library are several letters he wrote to the Board of Harbor Commissioners and Charles Vickers, the port manager. He also has correspondence written to the United Navy Electronics Laboratory, who asked him for information on subsidence. The work sheets he used when he collected collar count data are here, too. This data was collected from a truck sitting besides the oil well. (13:00-15:39)... Charles Richter was interested in Law's subsidence findings in Wilmington because of the shear earthquake that cut three hundred oil wells and was recorded as the most expensive earthquake in the United States up to that time. (15:39-18:48)... Mayor Raymond C. Kealor previously worked for Pat Elliot running wire line in the hole for his water witching service. Both Kealor and Elliot served on the Board of Harbor Commissioners and had it not been for their wire line work, Law's collar count research may not have been understood by the City Council. (18:48-23:33)... There was a 1926 journal article entitled, "Local Subsidence in the Goose Creek Oil Field," which was the first case of subsidence that led to a decision in the courts. Wallace E. Pratt, a leading geologist, testified during the lawsuit and proved that subsidence was caused by oil production, not by an act of nature. (23:33-29:35)... Among the items Law is donating to CSULB library is a letter drafted by operators in the Wilmington oil field regarding mandatory unitization. The operators resisted unitization, but the state legislature passed the Subsidence Act. Texas also adopted mandatory unitization legislation, which tended to favor the larger oil companies. In California, however, Propositions 4 and 5 were supported by smaller companies against big oil companies like Standard Oil, which was considered an "octopus." Smaller, independent oil operators were able to ward off mandatory unitization with the support of William Keck of Superior Oil. When Law went to work as a roughneck, there was a Superior Oil Company well nearby. They had the finest equipment including new trucks and large boilers. They drilled fast and there was a story, that was folklore, that if a crew member was hurt, he was dragged aside and drilling continued. (29:35-31:31)... Among the items Law is donating to CSULB library is a letter from Sam Roberts to Lee Osborn, who worked on the management committee of some of the oil production units in Long Beach harbor. Osborn, according to Law, used Law's material published in "A Statistical Approach to the Interstitial Heterogeneity of Sand Reservoirs," but did not give Law any credit. Law's article, "Statistical Approach of Core Analysis Interpretation," was published by the American Petroleum Institute which is a trade organization, not a professional organization. End of tape *** File: subjlaw12.mp3 (0:00-2:12)... Brief introduction The US Geologic Survey is the eminent authority in the field on ground water and geology. One of the features of Wilmington subsidence was the weak texture of the overburden. The oil field is made up of friable sands. Although there are tens of thousands of developed oil fields in the world, only three or four have led to destructive subsidence. (2:12-5:38)... When determining elevations, it is important to make sure one measures stable reference points. If an elevation is measured in a swamp, for example, it might sink relative to sea level. This was less of a problem in Wilmington, but more of a problem in Inglewood. (5:38-8:08)... Among the studies Law is donating to CSULB library is a water quality control plan and his work for the American Petroleum Institute Pacific Coast District subcommittee entitled, "Effect of Sampling Intervals on Mean Porosity and Permeability." The purpose of this study was to determine a proper number of samples to take in order to get a reading on mean porosity. This study, however, may no longer be relevant because core sampling, at the time of the interview, was a lost art that has been replaced by electronic log interpretation. (8:08-18:17)... He submitted his paper on the "Determination of Subsidence Arrestment in Harbor Areas" to the new head of Soil Mechanics at Cal Tech, Ronald F. Scott. Scott echoed the general sentiment at Cal Tech that Law's report had very little to offer. Scott send Law a letter in 1970 critiquing Law's study. E. C. Babson, who was considered the best practical engineer in California, agreed with Scott's assessment of Law's study. However, Babson informed Law that his study was the basis on which people in the industry would spend millions of dollars to implement solutions. (18:17-22:33)... Law cites more reports in his collection, indicating that many of his papers were bibliographic references in other studies. He digresses regarding mandatory unitization under the subsidence law. There was a hearing scheduled by the Division of Oil and Gas to determine whether the potential for inundation existed in the Wilmington oil field, in which case mandatory unitization would occur. End of tape
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