Editing Taft, California (section)

===Oil industry===
[[File:Wooden Derick - Kern West Oil Museum (3355730344).jpg|thumb|1917 wooden [[derrick]]. This oil well produced into the 1980s, and the operator then donated the old derrick and three acres of land to found the '''West Kern Oil Museum.''']]
[[File:Taft oil well blow-out in Kern County, ca. 1920 (CHS-2498).jpg|thumb|upright|Taft oil well blow-out at a  Standard Oil well,  ca. 1920. Around 20,000 barrels of oil were spilled.]]

Taft is situated in a major [[petroleum]] and [[natural gas]] production region in California and is one of the few remaining towns in the United States which exist exclusively because of nearby oil reserves. The discovery of oil in the region occurred in the late 19th century near [[Maricopa, California|Maricopa]], {{Convert|7|mile||2|spell=in}} south of Taft. Many other oil and gas accumulations were discovered around Taft during the early-to-mid-20th century, notably the Midway field (near [[Fellows, California]]), the Sunset field (later found to be part of the same trend, accounting for the modern combined name of [[Midway-Sunset Oil Field|Midway-Sunset]]), and the [[Buena Vista Oil Field|Buena Vista]]. The town is built directly between these two huge fields. The operational activities within these fields, as well as the [[Elk Hills Oil Field]], [[South Belridge Oil Field]], [[North Belridge Oil Field]], [[Cymric Oil Field]], and [[McKittrick Oil Field]] north of Taft, have been the economic lifeblood of the town for over 100 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beason |first=Tyrone |date=November 10, 2019 |title=In this California 'Trump country' town, folks hear the impeachment talk, but it feels a world away |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-11-10/trump-country-taft-california-impeachment |access-date=November 10, 2019 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

The super-giant Midway-Sunset field has produced nearly {{convert|4000000000|oilbbl}} of [[crude oil]], most of it heavy gravity (13-14 degrees [[API gravity|API]]). Enhanced oil recovery operations in the form of steam production and injection have been used on the thick viscous crude oil of the Midway-Sunset field since the mid-to-late-1960s. The reservoirs of the Midway-Sunset field are composited layers of mostly unconsolidated sandstones of late [[Miocene]] age, shallowly buried. The shallow burial depth and ideal nature of the sandstones make them almost perfectly suited for steam injection. As a result, the amount of oil that can be recovered has greatly increased.

[[Standard Oil]], later the [[Standard Oil Company of California]] (modern [[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]]), made Taft its corporate operational headquarters. At one time, it is reported that as many as 6,000 inhabitants of Taft were employed by Standard Oil. The hub of this activity was "11-C Camp", so named due to its [[survey township]] location in section 11 and designated "township C" by Standard's mapping department. The infrastructure to run a large oil and gas company included: a rail spur from the line running through Taft, steel and timber for derrick construction and maintenance, pipe, valves, numerous offices, an expansive and highly specialized machine shop, supply shops, the car and truck fleet on one side of the Main Street; bunkhouses for workers, and fourteen blocks on four streets of company homes for employees on the other side.  11-C Camp also included a playground, baseball field, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a cook-house open to the public, landscaped grounds, a clubhouse with a television, pool and card tables, and an ice-cream stand. The huge complex gradually closed down over a period of many years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bittle |first=Jake |date=May 15, 2024 |title=Inside a California oil town's divisive plan to survive the energy transition |url=https://grist.org/energy/taft-california-kern-county-carbon-capture/ |access-date=May 15, 2024 |website=Grist |language=en-us |archive-date=May 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515084512/https://grist.org/energy/taft-california-kern-county-carbon-capture/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1968, Standard Oil of California moved its accounting and finance offices to [[Concord, California]]. In the late 1980s, the machine shop was closed and auctioned, signaling the end of the 11-C Camp era. The houses were moved outside the camp into a new neighborhood.

Many other oil companies had operations in the area, including larger companies such as [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]], [[Texaco]], [[Exxon]], [[Mobil Oil|Mobil]], [[Gulf Oil|Gulf]], and [[ARCO]], as well as smaller operations (but with a large local presence), such as [[Santa Fe Snyder|Santa Fe Energy]], [[Berry Petroleum Company|Berry Petroleum]], Tannehill, M.H. Whittier, and lately [[Plains Exploration & Production]]. In the mid-1990s, according to California's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), there were 68 operating companies working the [[Midway-Sunset Oil Field|Midway-Sunset field]] alone. While the names of most of these companies have changed, due to mergers, acquisitions, and liquidations, the production activities have been continuous.

In the early days of oil exploration and production, long before the advent of modern blowout preventions, gushers were the norm. Although there were many, the [[Lakeview Gusher]] gushed more than any, producing {{convert|100000|oilbbl}} of oil per day at its peak. In all, the Lakeview No.1 produced about {{Convert|9000000|oilbbl||spell=in}} of oil (a very respectable cumulative production for a single well in this area). The well and its State historical marker can be found along the Petroleum Club road, just off [[California State Route 33|SR 33]] south of town.