THE CHALLENGES OF SANTA BARBARA

foreign [Music] years ago Spanish Captain Jose Francisco de Ortega established a military base on this Scenic strip of California coastline soon after Father Junipero Sarah founded a mission here the mission of Santa Barbara the mission still stands and Santa Barbara incorporated as a city in 1850 retains much of the style and Architectural charm of its original Spanish founders today this colorful Resort city of over 72 000 is known for its good living its lovely Gardens and Greenery it's handsome University fine beaches it's glorious weather and its oil for nature which endowed Santa Barbara with so much beauty also deposited under its Channel a vast reserve of crude oil removing that oil while also preserving and protecting the environment is one of the great challenges the American oil industry is facing today [Music] why in the hell are they for drilling oil out here in the middle of our nice Channel I mean it just doesn't make sense if there is a need for it genuine need then we should drill oh no we need our own I use oil in a car use it for my boat which didn't have to be here oil and Santa Barbara have never been strangers for centuries natural oil seepage has been common in the area the Chumash Indians came to Santa Barbara and nearby Carpinteria to their canoes with the tar they found washed up on the Rocks along the shore dozens of natural oil seeps have been noted in the channel Waters and one off coal oil point releases an estimated 2 000 gallons of oil a day no wonder then that offshore oil drilling got its start around Santa Barbara the first Wells were drilled off the end of piers at Summerland in 1896 and then later at nearby Elwood in fact because of its oil field Elwood holds the distinction of being the only place in the continental United States that was shelves by the Japanese in World War II today there are more than 200 oil wells in state waters of the Santa Barbara Channel an evolutionary step which has permitted drilling to move farther out into the channel was the development of mobile drilling rigs and Offshore platforms and now plans are being made to begin oil production still farther out in waters more than 800 feet deep the people of Santa Barbara have some clear-cut opinions about oil drilling in the channel [Music] possible because the fire needs well I don't object to it as long as it's uh you know within the reasonable limits it would be very difficult to convince me that those rigs are ultimately safe if they take all the precautions and spend the money and not cut corners then uh it's fine would be nice to deep water drilling further out so to visually Preserve the environment I think that the geology of our channel is such that we should never they should never have allowed it in the first place I think they should drill it and get it over with itself I know that our country needs oil and there's oil out there and I guess we're stuck with those things until they get the oil out of there and so it goes on the one hand the fast-growing National demand for more oil on the other the people who have to live with oil production nearby and don't like it [Music] unavoidably at Santa Barbara this feeling is heightened by The Dread of another blowout like the one of January 69 which soiled the beaches and Waters reports have indicated that bad as it was no long-lasting harm was done and we have the Harper restaurant even today we have people from the East and they come from all over the world and you see them looking at a window and looking at it may I help you they said yes where's the oil at here I thought you know I thought it would see a lot of oil here but I don't see any oil and it has but not the oil and the austral was bad but it was cleaned up in very very good shape today we have some of the finest and cleanest beaches in the world the week after uh sea lions brazils and aquariums we also kept your porpoise and uh and pilot whales have you found the wildlife affected by the oil drilling in the channel well basically not in my operation there's still a lot of sea lions around and a lot of porpoise and and whales also did the oil spill in 69 do any damage to the wildlife well it did uh it did some to the birds and things of course along the shoreline but and some sea lions did get oil on them but it didn't uh it didn't do damage that you can visibly see now the nation's need for oil is beyond question everything that Rose moves through the water or flies needs petroleum or petroleum byproducts we depend on petrochemical products for more than 15 000 everyday items from cosmetics to aspirin the plastic dolls paints fertilizers and fabrics the country in addition gets three quarters of its energy for heat transportation and power from gas and oil and the demands for energy are constantly expanding when today's children are teenagers the need for energy will be double what it is now what do oilmen mean when they talk about an energy crisis in this country we're now consuming oil and gas at a rate greater than we're finding it this means that we have to import oil from abroad from areas that are less secured and if we produced it here in this country basically what's needed is an increased exploratory effort by the industry so the eyes of the oilmen are looking in a New Direction 30 miles from Santa Barbara in the western part of the Ventura Basin is an area called the Santa Ines unit rights to explore and produce oil and gas in this area were obtained by several oil companies through sealed bids from the federal government it is planned for one company humble oil and refining company to operate this unit on behalf of itself and other successful bidders [Music] since the beginning of 1968 two floating drilling vessels a ship the waterco4 and what's known as a semi-submersible drilling rig the Blue Water 2 have been exploring the Santa Barbara Channel to the oil man the techniques of drilling at Sea are not much different from drilling on dry land well the actual building of the well very little different we have uh the problems with motion uh vessels of moving with the Seas we actually built our well about like we do on land we have more people involved better equipment more help out here than we normally land see that there's a great lot of difference other than it wet under us through its process of search and find over many years coupled with extensive research humble has developed and perfected much of the technical know-how it will need for successful and safe production in deep water this includes computerized controls and underwater Sonic devices to help the drilling rig remain positioned directly over the drilling hole a television camera equipped with its own high power light is used for underwater inspection the TV Camera can survey every inch of pipe between the vessel and the seabed Bumble employs the most advanced safety procedures out of nearly 1500 offshore Wells humble has drilled in the United States waters there have been only three minor spills none in the Santa Barbara Channel and in each of these three cases everything was cleaned up in a matter of hours this massive piece of equipment weighs about 50 tons stands 30 feet high this blowout preventer is only part of the complex safety system used in offshore drilling the Bop as it is called goes underwater and is designed to prevent uncontrolled flow from a well [Music] drilling from a floating rig the Bop is attached to the well head on the ocean floor the well is drilled directly through the Bop if pressure is in the well build up to a high level [Music] one of several valves in the Bop can divert the flow and heavy mud is pumped into the well to control the pressure this blowout preventer is tested every day to make certain all shut off valves are working properly drilling has been successfully completed in water depths to 1500 feet however producing oil in deep water requires different procedures solution to Deep Water Production is illustrated by this model the company is making plans to construct a platform like this place it in more than 800 feet of water and then drill from the platform some of the well completions will be placed underwater in a submerged production system are you familiar with humble oil companies plans for deep water drilling off Gaviota no I'm afraid I'm not no no I I'm not familiar with it no I'm not I'd like to hear a little bit about it here's how the plan will work the deep water platform will be assembled on its side in a dry dock just as a ship would be built for this first deep water platform the submerged production system or SPS will be tested in the platform platform is completed the dry dock will be flooded flotation tax will give added buoyancy to the structure now the finished platform nearly as long as three football fields will be towed to the drilling site in the channel this is a 16-foot model of the platform built for test purposes when it reaches the drilling site controlled flooding of the platform legs will roll it over and upend it for its descent to the channel floor what we see happening here in only a few seconds actually will take some 14 hours with a real platform as soon as the platform is settled in the water eight 36-inch steel piles will be driven around each leg more than 100 feet into the seabed to make it solidly secure a hole will be drilled through each 36-inch pile to a depth of about 350 feet and a 30 inch pile will be inserted in each hole and cement it in place with this Foundation the platform is designed to withstand the maximum seismic and wave forces that are anticipated in the channel finally a Derrick barge will place the working decks atop the platform when the Derricks are in place the Deepwater platform will be ready to begin its mission now let's take a closer look at the SPs or submerged production system this pilot SPS unit will have three Wells on it and future systems may handle up to 40 Wells the wells are drilled one at a time and then are connected together a series of pipes and valves controls the flow of the wells and permits the servicing of all welds in the system many consultants and contractors active in Aerospace achievements have participated in the development of the SPs to assure its reliability companies like TRW controls General Electric Martin Marietta and vetco offshore Industries just as NASA Ground Control in Houston can tell how every circuit and transistor is functioning on a spacecraft to the Moon so with the SPs the control station has a monitoring system to check all equipment in the sea in addition there's an underwater safety system from an environmental point of view the SPs was built with one goal in mind to allow no pollution whatever any oil that might leak from the system will be trapped by inverted drip pans that cover the entire manifold at the first hint of oil a sensing device immediately stops weld production and closes the manifold valves in that particular area the oil trapped in the drip pan is then put back in the pipeline servicing of the SPs will be done by this maintenance manipulator [Music] around the entire SPS is a track the manipulator reels itself down a cable and onto the track it picks up an anchor which holds it to the track then moves to the location of the defective valve or equipment pod the maintenance manipulator removes the part to be replaced foreign stores it [Music] picks up a new part and inserts it [Music] if required there's also a diving bell for a manned operation job done and the newly installed part carefully tested the maintenance manipulator now goes back to the surface foreign submerged production systems will be located near the sea floor rather than on a platform wells will be drilled through the SPs by a floating rink just as exploratory Wells are done now these welds will be connected to the SPs manifold and produced through a submarine pipeline to a platform more than 100 man years of engineering effort have gone into the creation of this system which is basically an extension of proven oilfield technology [Music] in keeping with its avowed aim of protecting the environment humble added an Environmental Conservation manager to its Western Division in 1968. art Jones tells what his job entails we seek to preserve Environmental Quality in the Santa Barbara Channel by using the best technology Available To Us by training our men to ensure they're thoroughly knowledgeable in All Phases of our operations and to cope with any emergency and carrying out my responsibilities in this regard I frequently visit the drilling rigs and talk directly with the men involved and I see firsthand operations I might add that we are monitored by the representatives of the U.S Geological Survey and this gives further assurance that we're carrying our operations out properly and in keeping with all regulations an event we were unable to do this for any reason my responsibilities are simply to shut the operation down in developing its plans for deep water drilling has humble sought the advice of experts in other fields yes we have we have sought out the advice and Council of both individuals and companies in such Fields as platform design wave forces weather equipment reliability and metallurgy for example in our consideration of earthquake design we've sought out such experts as Dr Paul Jennings of Caltech Dr Jennings what were your contributions to the design of humble's deep water platform I did two things for them I set the level of the earthquakes which they must consider in the design and secondly I've been guiding in a general way their structural Dynamic studies of the response of the offshore drilling platforms to strong earthquake motions from your knowledge of the characteristics of strong earthquake motions how safe is the deep water platform because of the more stringent requirements the offshore drilling platforms are safer in earthquake motions than the typical building structure in the unlikely event that very strong shaking should occur right under the tower right on the site we expect the the tower to be able to take this motion with without failure typical buildings would not be able to do this not everyone in Santa Barbara shares humble's enthusiasm for their deep water plan among the critics is the organization known as goo get oil out it's an interesting scheme the technology is uh is fascinating objectively uh but I I have some uh very serious questions as a as a Layman of the repair they're going to drill in the water well beyond the depth that a human can dive to bring about any repairs to any damages that might occur so they have shown uh models of a remote vehicle which could go down and by video control various ways correct any malfunctions and I have a very basic question on this thing the how will this thing see in a if it's trying to operate in a sea of oil in addition to the quality of manufacturing in a test we've Incorporated in our design what we call a safety system uh the safety system uh really is a system that attempts to take care of any malfunctions the Extreme Caution has been exercised in quality control so the equipment that we have built is of very good quality an example of how the system works is it should we have a little uh abnormal pressure fluctuations in the pressure piping the pressure sensor would picks it up and it would shut down the valves associated with that part of the manifold and stop the production our approach to this if you will is it we'd much rather lose production than we would lose all into the sea or cost pollution I've looked at the drawings of the equipment that they're planning to put in in the site out there I've talked at length with some of their production people it's very very impressive however I'm not convinced that it's completely safe I would say with the uh the know-how and the technical knowledge of what we accumulated in the last 16 years we are well able to design and build equipment fail safe in deep water before the SPs has ever put into the Santa Barbara Channel there will be dry tests in the open air following successful completion of these tests the cement pit at vetco in which the SBS was assembled will be flooded for thorough underwater testing only after exhaustive testing and approval from appropriate agencies in the U.S government under today's stringent regulations then and only then will the SPs and the Deepwater platform go into the channel but the controversy over this plan continues well I don't think that we should even try and find out if it's a plan that should work I don't think that the chance is worth taking if adequate protection can be made so that we don't experience the same problem that we did a couple of years ago where there couldn't be an accident that would pollute the coastline and pollute the waters uh I don't see any difference in drilling in deep water or drilling closer to shore like some of the other rigs are hope they drill further and more and more I think we need it as I understand it they've never drilled that deeply before so I believe that uh it's very risky and shouldn't be done I feel that unless they can do the job without going ahead and uh not having any spills they won't tackle it and I feel that uh it is a very very good company it will not do anything do because those two are cognitive thoughts of how we set up our wings feel my feeling is that it's premature to test this in the Santa Barbara Channel and I feel that we will be able to have underwater completions that are reliable if we work at it and we will be able to contain spills in open water but right now I don't believe we can I think that the city and the oil can get along the people too and we have to come to an agreement we need the oil in I think we can do it what would you say to the people in Santa Barbara who are objecting to the deep water drilling because of environmental reasons I would only say this that we are well aware uh based not only on our experience in Santa Barbara but every other place that one of the most pressing needs now is for for all of us to conduct our business and our operations in such a way that we properly preserve and protect the environment against any further incidents one of the most frequent and persistent criticisms of oil development in the channel is the very look of the production platforms as some Santa barbaraans put it I think that they they don't add very much to the scenery they don't look very good all right they get somewhere doing it without those platforms is under under sea or under some to hide them you know that's the that's the problem that's the only problem I figure if we could do something about making the platforms less unsightly although they're rather nice for navigating purposes less unsightly not an unreasonable request and not an impossible task camouflaging of producing Wells has been carried out quite effectively in many ways that's not an office building it's an oil well in disguise right in the Heart of Los Angeles pedestrians and motorists go by here every day and hardly notice that there's a full-fledged oil field behind that carefully cultivated Greenery and residents of Long Beach California look out on a series of rigs dressed up as high-rise Apartments humble is currently considering several ideas that might be used to give the Deepwater platform a more pleasing appearance lighting effects to make it less visible special paneling perhaps even a veil of spray to mask the platform from Shore just recently half a platform was rigged with special water nozzles to test the effectiveness of spray as camouflage further testing will be done however the split screen shows this technique has real possibilities in any case the number of platforms needed for oil production will be reduced by humble's Deep Water Production system and so this lovely place this Scenic Waterway blessed with such abundance of natural beauty and richness remains a challenge a challenge to men's minds and resources a challenge with much to give and much to protect here disaster provoked National concern over our environment how appropriate it would be for the Santa Barbara Channel now to become a place where all will say here industry met its responsibility to man and to Nature [Music]