U.S. dependence on foreign oil wanes as domestic production booms

Energy producers are using technology and new drilling techniques to find crude and coax more production from old wells.

By Ronald D. White,
Los Angeles Times
October 29, 2011

In a downtown Los Angeles skyscraper, Hal Washburn is drilling for oil.

Using a black high-definition computer screen, the petroleum engineer traces the ghostly white outlines of century-year-old vertical oil wells punctuated by the bright green and red of more recent efforts. The newer wells flare with what look like thousands of tiny hairs; the hotter the color, the greater the amount of oil.

"Today, we drill a lot of wells on the computer before we drill underground," said Washburn, chief executive of Breitburn Energy Partners.

The new crude being tapped — on screen and in real life — comes from Santa Barbara County's Orcutt oil field, one of the state's oldest, previously thought to be in terminal decline.

"It's been a huge home run for us," Washburn said.

(More here.)