ABSTRACT

Oil spills of a few hundred thousand barrels or greater rank as the modern world's top fifty losses. These oil losses are fairly-well documented as compared to the crude oil losses of pre-1940s United States and other world production regions. Massive overproduction events coupled with "rule of capture" law plus technical limitations resulted in early 20th-century crude oil losses unprecedented in history. Great crude oil loss occurred due to earthen storage leakage and failure, evaporation, discarded emulsions, fires and well blowouts. There was practically no cleanup of any spillage, thus oil and associated saltwater remained as long-term influences on ecosystem recovery. Documentation of historic field development, including oil and saltwater production, storage and documented spillage, is used as the basis for field observations and imagery study. Historic spill analysis must take into account associated saltwater losses, as saltwater damage dominates old field landscapes. Caddo-Pine Island Field, LA, and Smackover Field, AR, share similar landscapes and climates yet vary some in their oilfield waste histories. Caddo-Pine Island Field's largest single oil loss occurred over 9 months (December 1918-August 1919) during heavy oil overproduction in the Pine Island district. A minimum of 3 million barrels of oil was lost. Smackover Field suffered heavy long-term chronic heavy oil loss starting in 1922. The field held 18 million barrels of heavy oil in earthen storage by 1925; recovery of the last 8 million barrels was not completed until 1933. Up to 25 million barrels of oil were lost in the field's first twelve years of production. The most pronounced landscape patterns are those dominated by major saltwater loss--most obvious is the extensive erosion and redeposition in drainage areas, very slow vegetative recovery, and major vegetative change with recovery. Areas of primarily oil loss are less obvious, as landscape damage is much less severe. Remnant asphaltic deposits are present in areas of largest heavy oil loss.