The "Asphalt Jungle" is defined herein as the urban area of the City of Los Angeles south of the Santa Monica Mountains, an area of approximately 100 sq. mi. Located in the northern part of the Los Angeles basin, this area always has been considered to have much potential but, until 1953, received very little exploration because of its location in the densely built-up part of the City.

Since 1953, advanced exploration techniques, including daylight core-hole drilling, light-charge seismic surveys on new freeway routes and on old Pacific Electric rights-of-way, and directional drilling from elaborately landscaped and carefully sound-proofed drill-sites, have yielded considerable new geological information and have resulted in the discovery of 5 new oilfields with total reserves estimated at over 100,000,000 bbls. of oil and 250,000,000 MCF of gas. Modification of City restrictions has enabled this to be accomplished with a minimum of inconvenience to the residents and financial benefit to thousands of lot owners.

The late Pleistocene and alluvial surface beds under the "Asphalt Jungle" conceal a series of sharp, locally thrust-faulted anticlines with steep to overturned southern flanks. The Las Cienegas oil field, discovered in 1960, is one of the 5 new discoveries and is on one of these nearly east-west trending features, overlying a prominent schist basement "high."

This field consists of 5 pools, P.E., 4th Avenue, Murphy, Jefferson, and Good Shepherd. The producing sandstones are encountered from 2,200 to 4,350 feet (vertical depth) in the upper Miocene (Wissler's A, B, C, D, and E Divisions), and have a maximum net thickness of 800 feet. Average daily production in December, 1964, was 10,000 BPD of 19°-40° gravity oil from 39 wells. Productive area is approximately 600 acres.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 1085------------