Misplaced Pages

#17982

105-570: As of 2009, the primary operator on the field was Rosetta Resources of Houston, Texas , which owned 171 of the field's 189 active wells. The remaining 18 were run by several smaller operators, including Towne Exploration, Royale Energy, and Tri-Valley Oil & Gas. The gas field underlies portions of Solano , Sacramento , and Contra Costa counties, in the bottomlands of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta as well as some adjacent upland areas in

210-567: A city with zoning that flooded." On May 16, 2024, a strong derecho caused widespread damage across the city and surrounding metropolitan area. Houston is 165 miles (266 km) east of Austin , 88 miles (142 km) west of the Louisiana border, and 250 miles (400 km) south of Dallas . The city has a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km ); this comprises over 599.59 square miles (1,552.9 km ) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km ) covered by water. Most of Houston

315-545: A commercial center, forming a symbiosis with its Gulf Coast port, Galveston. Landlocked farmers brought their produce to Houston, using Buffalo Bayou to gain access to Galveston and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston merchants profited from selling staples to farmers and shipping the farmers' produce to Galveston. The great majority of enslaved people in Texas came with their owners from the older slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through

420-624: A day of groundwater. Houston has four major bayous passing through the city that accept water from the extensive drainage system. Buffalo Bayou runs through Downtown and the Houston Ship Channel , and has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Houston Heights community northwest of Downtown and then towards Downtown; Brays Bayou , which runs along the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou , which runs through

525-515: A floodplain, a flowing flood-water stream termed a floodway runs through the development area, a most dangerous place to encounter during any future flooding event. Harris County , like other more rural counties, cannot direct developers where to build or not build via land use controls such as a zoning ordinance by Texas law, and instead can only impose general floodplain regulations for enforcement during subdivision approvals and building permit approvals. The 2020 U.S. census determined Houston had

630-477: A gas supply closer to the urban center. The timing was perfect, as the Rio Vista field was proving to be enormous as each new well came in, and by the end of November, 1944, there were 70 active gas wells in the new field. Peak production was the next year, with over 160 billion cubic feet (4.5 × 10 m) of gas being withdrawn from the field in 1945. The field was unitized in 1965. Amerada Petroleum became

735-586: A large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major city in the U.S. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, such as the Houston Museum District and the Houston Theater District . Present-day Houston sits on land that was once occupied by the Karankawa and

840-441: A mortgage were $ 1,646, and $ 536 without a mortgage. Houston's median gross rent from 2015 to 2019 was $ 1,041. The median household income in 2019 was $ 52,338 and 20.1% of Houstonians lived at or below the poverty line . Houston is a majority-minority city. The Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research, a think tank , has described Greater Houston as "one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan areas in

945-449: A population of 2,304,580. In 2017, the census-estimated population was 2,312,717, and in 2018 it was 2,325,502. An estimated 600,000 undocumented immigrants resided in the Houston area in 2017, comprising nearly 9% of the city's metropolitan population. At the 2010 United States census , Houston had a population of 2,100,263 residents, up from the city's 2,396 at the 1850 census . Per

1050-532: A shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans, who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina . One month later, about 2.5 million Houston-area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast , leaving little damage to the Houston area. This was the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States. In May 2015, seven people died after 12 inches of rain fell in 10 hours during what

1155-671: A total depth of 4,485 feet (1,367 m). Amerada named the field after the closest town, Rio Vista, and the productive zone the "Emigh". This was the only zone to produce gas until 1943. Development of the field picked up rapidly during the Second World War. Since oil tankers were being appropriated in the San Francisco Bay Area for use in the war effort, a giant gas pipeline from the Kettleman Hills field had to be converted to an oil pipeline, creating an immediate need for

SECTION 10

#1732851679018

1260-546: Is 14 to 16 inches (410 mm). Freezes occur occasionally during the winter, with the freeze-free period encompassing 250 to 275 days. Drainage on the field is poor except in the Montezuma Hills, in which it is to the south and southeast towards the Sacramento River via ephemeral streams which dry up completely in the summer. Native vegetation types include bulrushes and cattails in the wetlands and annual grasslands on

1365-593: Is also home to buildings designed by noted architects I. M. Pei , César Pelli , and Philip Johnson. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a mini-boom of midrise and highrise residential tower construction occurred, with several over 30 stories tall. Since 2000 over 30 skyscrapers have been developed in Houston; all told, 72 high-rises tower over the city, which adds up to about 8,300 units. In 2002, Uptown had more than 23 million square feet (2,100,000 m ) of office space with 16 million square feet (1,500,000 m ) of class A office space . Houston's climate

1470-427: Is arid, with 6 to 12 inches (300 mm) of precipitation per year on the average, all falling as rain. Summers are hot, with daily highs regularly exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in the summer months, and winters are cool with occasional freezes. Interstate 5 parallels the range of hills to the northeast, and SR 33 to the southwest. SR 41 , which runs from Paso Robles to Kettleman City to Fresno , crosses

1575-607: Is classified as humid subtropical ( Cfa in the Köppen climate classification system ), typical of the Southern United States . While not in Tornado Alley , like much of Northern Texas , spring supercell thunderstorms sometimes bring tornadoes to the area. Prevailing winds are from the south and southeast during most of the year, which bring heat and tropical moisture from the nearby Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. During

1680-556: Is known as the Memorial Day Flood. Eight people died in April 2016 during a storm that dropped 17 inches of rain. The worst came in late August 2017, when Hurricane Harvey stalled over southeastern Texas, much like Tropical Storm Allison did sixteen years earlier, causing severe flooding in the Houston area, with some areas receiving over 50 inches (1,300 mm) of rain. The rainfall exceeded 50 inches in several areas locally, breaking

1785-501: Is on the gulf coastal plain , and its vegetation is classified as Western Gulf coastal grasslands while further north, it transitions into a subtropical jungle, the Big Thicket . Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, or swamps, and all are still visible in surrounding areas. Flat terrain and extensive greenfield development have combined to worsen flooding. Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level, and

1890-546: Is one of a long line of similar lengthy, narrow, anticlinal fields paralleling the San Andreas Fault, where tectonic forces squeezed the rock formations into anticlinal structures, trapping large quantities of petroleum. To the northwest is the large Coalinga Oil Field ; to the southeast are the Lost Hills Oil Field , Cymric , McKittrick , North Belridge , South Belridge , Elk Hills , Buena Vista , and finally

1995-538: Is the fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City , Los Angeles , and Chicago , and the sixth-most populous city in North America . Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle . Comprising a land area of 640.4 square miles (1,659 km ), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties ). It

2100-522: Is the 64-floor, 901-foot (275 m)-tall, Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time of construction, it was believed to be the world's tallest skyscraper outside a central business district. The new 20-story Skanska building and BBVA Compass Plaza are the newest office buildings built in Uptown after 30 years. The Uptown District

2205-403: Is the fifteenth largest field in the state by total ultimate oil recovery, and of the top twenty oil fields, it is the closest to exhaustion, with less than one-half of one percent of its original oil remaining in place. The Kettleman North Dome occupies the northernmost portion of the Kettleman Hills , a northwest-southeast trending line of hills about 30 miles (48 km) long which parallels

SECTION 20

#1732851679018

2310-458: Is the largest city in the United States by total area whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands . Houston was founded by land investors on August 30, 1836, at

2415-488: Is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations, it has developed similarly to other Sun Belt cities because the city's land use regulations and legal covenants have played a similar role. Regulations include mandatory lot size for single-family houses and requirements that parking be available to tenants and customers. In 1998, Houston relaxed its mandatory lot sizes from 5,000 square feet to 3,500 square feet, which spurred housing construction in

2520-631: Is the only metropolitan area with less than ten million citizens where such a CO 2 dome can be detected by satellites. Because of Houston's wet season and proximity to the Gulf Coast , the city is prone to flooding from heavy rains; the most notable flooding events include Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, along with most recent Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019 and Tropical Storm Beta in 2020. In response to Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston initiated plans to require developers to build homes that will be less susceptible to flooding by raising them two feet above

2625-418: Is the tallest structure in Texas, 19th tallest building in the United States, and was previously 85th-tallest skyscraper in the world, based on highest architectural feature. In 1983, the 71-floor, 992-foot (302 m)-tall Wells Fargo Plaza (formerly Allied Bank Plaza) was completed, becoming the second-tallest building in Houston and Texas. Based on highest architectural feature, it is the 21st-tallest in

2730-515: Is ubiquitous in Houston; in 1981, annual spending on electricity for interior cooling exceeded $ 600 million (equivalent to $ 2.01 billion in 2023), and by the late 1990s, approximately 90% of Houston homes featured air conditioning systems. The record highest temperature recorded in Houston is 109 °F (43 °C) at Bush Intercontinental Airport, on four occasions: September 4, 2000; August 27, 2011; and August 24 and August 27, 2023. Houston has mild winters, with occasional cold spells. In January,

2835-405: The 500-year floodplain . Hurricane Harvey damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and dumped trillions of gallons of water into the city. In places this led to feet of standing water that blocked streets and flooded homes. The Houston City Council passed this regulation in 2018 with a vote of 9–7. Had these floodplain development rules had been in place all along, it is estimated that 84% of homes in

2940-468: The American Lung Association rating the metropolitan area's ozone level twelfth on the "Most Polluted Cities by Ozone" in 2017, after major cities such as Los Angeles , Phoenix , New York City , and Denver . The industries along the ship channel are a major cause of the city's air pollution. The rankings are in terms of peak-based standards, focusing strictly on the worst days of the year;

3045-696: The Atakapa indigenous peoples for at least 2,000 years before the first known settlers arrived. These tribes are almost nonexistent today; this was most likely caused by foreign disease, and competition with various settler groups in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the land then remained largely uninhabited from the late 1700s until settlement in the 1830s. The Allen brothers— Augustus Chapman and John Kirby —explored town sites on Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay . According to historian David McComb, "[T]he brothers, on August 26, 1836, bought from Elizabeth E. Parrott, wife of T.F.L. Parrott and widow of John Austin,

3150-536: The Battle of Galveston . After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between Downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas. In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane , efforts to make Houston into a viable deep-water port were accelerated. The following year,

3255-550: The Houston Dynamo soccer team was formed. In 2017 , the Houston Astros won their first World Series . Flooding has been a recurring problem in the Houston area. In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain on parts of Houston, causing what was then the worst flooding in the city's history and billions of dollars in damage, and killed 20 people in Texas. In August 2005, Houston became

Rio Vista Gas Field - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-703: The Houston Ship Channel , and the Texas oil boom . In the mid-20th century, Houston's economy diversified, as it became home to the Texas Medical Center —the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA 's Johnson Space Center , home to the Mission Control Center . Since the late 19th century, Houston's economy has had a broad industrial base in energy , manufacturing , aeronautics, and transportation . Leading in healthcare sectors and building oilfield equipment, Houston has

3465-525: The Interstate 610 loop . The "Inner Loop" encompasses a 97-square-mile (250 km ) area which includes Downtown, pre–World War II residential neighborhoods and streetcar suburbs , and newer high-density apartment and townhouse developments. Outside the loop, the city's typology is more suburban , though many major business districts—such as Uptown , Westchase , and the Energy Corridor —lie well outside

3570-612: The Montezuma Hills . The town of Rio Vista is entirely surrounded by the gas field, and the Trilogy retirement community , north of Rio Vista, is on the field's northern boundary. Additionally, the city of Isleton is on the gas field near its eastern border with the River Island Gas Field. Several state highways intersect the field, providing primary surface transportation through the area. California State Route 12 crosses

3675-657: The San Andreas Fault to the west. The range consists of two elongate "domes", the North Dome and Middle Dome; a portion of the Middle Dome is sometimes called the "South Dome," although the North and Middle Dome are the most topographically distinct. Both the North and Middle Domes overlie oil fields. The Kettleman Hills is named, and misspelled, after Dave Kettelman, a pioneer sheep and cattle rancher who grazed his animals there in

3780-587: The Temblor Formation , which is of Middle and Lower Miocene age. Within that formation, five different zones are identified in cross section, with a total thickness of petroleum-bearing rock approaching 2,000 feet (610 m). Underneath the Temblor is yet another series of impermeable and permeable strata, like layers of a cake: the Vaqueros Sandstone and Kreyenhagen Formation are impermeable units beneath

3885-601: The U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States . Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico , it is the seat of Harris County ; as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth . With a population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston

3990-596: The 100-year and 500-year floodplains would have been spared damage. In a recent case testing these regulations, near the Brickhouse Gulley, an old golf course that long served as a floodplain and reservoir for floodwaters, announced a change of heart toward intensifying development. A nationwide developer, Meritage Homes , bought the land and planned to develop the 500-year floodplain into 900 new residential homes. Their plan would bring in $ 360 million in revenue and boost city population and tax revenue. In order to meet

4095-472: The 1860s. The hills, which rise to an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet (370 m), divide the San Joaquin Valley on the east from the much smaller Kettleman Plain to the west. They are discontinuous, as indicated by their name ("hills" rather than "ridge"). The predominant vegetation is grassland, with surrounding areas containing grassland, low scrub, orchards, and agricultural fields. The climate

4200-498: The 1960s, Downtown Houston consisted of a collection of mid-rise office structures. Downtown was on the threshold of an energy industry–led boom in 1970. A succession of skyscrapers was built throughout the 1970s—many by real estate developer Gerald D. Hines —culminating with Houston's tallest skyscraper, the 75-floor, 1,002-foot (305 m)-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), completed in 1982. It

4305-447: The 2019 American Community Survey , Houston's age distribution was 482,402 under 15; 144,196 aged 15 to 19; 594,477 aged 20 to 34; 591,561 aged 35 to 54; 402,804 aged 55 to 74; and 101,357 aged 75 and older. The median age of the city was 33.4. At the 2014-2018 census estimates, Houston's age distribution was 486,083 under 15; 147,710 aged 15 to 19; 603,586 aged 20 to 34; 726,877 aged 35 to 59; and 357,834 aged 60 and older. The median age

Rio Vista Gas Field - Misplaced Pages Continue

4410-671: The 21st century. In 2000, the Houston Astros opened their new baseball stadium, Daikin Park , in downtown adjacent to the old Union Station . The Houston Texans were formed in 2002 as an NFL expansion team, replacing the Houston Oilers , which had left the city in 1996. NRG Stadium opened the same year. In 2003, the Toyota Center opened as the home for the Houston Rockets . In 2005,

4515-424: The 3,000-home Trilogy retirement community north of Rio Vista owned surface rights to the land they intended to use for the planned community, Amerada Hess retained mineral rights, and their successor Calpine desired to drill new gas wells in the same region. As of 2010, only one active well ("Marks No. 7") is adjacent to the community – northeast of State Route 12 at the corner of Church Road and Marks Road. Because

4620-476: The Delta islands protected by levees. Ground has been slowly subsiding in these areas for decades, due to a combination of peat decomposition, groundwater removal, and compaction of the underlying geologic structures from which trillions of cubic feet of gas have been removed. Climate in the area is subhumid with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters, with all precipitation occurring as rain. Mean annual rainfall

4725-410: The Houston area. In 2001, Enron Corporation , a Houston company with $ 100 billion in revenue, became engulfed in an accounting scandal which bankrupted the company in 2001. Healthcare has emerged as a major industry in Houston. The Texas Medical Center is now the largest medical complex in the world and employs over 120,000 people. Three new sports stadiums opened downtown in the first decade of

4830-532: The Kettleman Hills fields, mainly North Dome, was controversial during the 1930s. Other states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, restricted production of oil through agreements with each other, in order to keep the price from falling too far; however, in California no such regulation existed. Overproduction from Kettleman, with its depressant effect on the price of oil, was a cause of considerable antagonism in

4935-491: The Kreyenhagen is normally an impermeable shale, where it is highly fractured it is a productive unit in its own right, since oil collects in the fractures. Removal of oil from the large Kettleman Hills fields, mainly the North Dome, has been suggested as a cause of the 1985 M6.1 earthquake, since the total deformation caused by the quake was exactly that necessary to compensate for the oil removed historically, i.e. by filling

5040-596: The Midland Fault, cuts through the middle of the field from north to south, and numerous small faults intersect the field elsewhere. Vertical offset along the Midland Fault of the Domengine Formation, one of the major gas-bearing rock units, is up to 500 feet. The eastern boundary of the field is demarcated by the Isleton Fault. By November 1980, twelve separate pools, or producing horizons, had been identified in

5145-451: The North ; this resulted in an economic boom and produced a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector. The increased production of the expanded shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth, as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973). This was the stimulus for the development of

5250-580: The Temblor; underneath them, another large pool of oil is found in the Upper McAdams Formation (of Eocene age) at a depth of around 10,000 feet (3,000 m). This formation was not discovered until 1940. A few other smaller oil pools were found later, such as one in the Kreyenhagen in 1957 and the Whepley, a small additional pool at great depth in the Temblor Formation, discovered in 1976. While

5355-458: The Texas Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century. The 20th century brought a convergence of economic factors that fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas's primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane , the subsequent construction of

SECTION 50

#1732851679018

5460-401: The United States. The majority of rainfall occurs between April and October (the wet season of Southeast Texas), when the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico evaporates extensively over the city. Houston has excessive ozone levels and is routinely ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. Ground-level ozone, or smog, is Houston's predominant air pollution problem, with

5565-491: The United States. In 2007, Downtown had over 43 million square feet (4,000,000 m ) of office space. Centered on Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road, the Uptown District boomed during the 1970s and early 1980s when a collection of midrise office buildings, hotels, and retail developments appeared along I-610 West. Uptown became one of the most prominent instances of an edge city . The tallest building in Uptown

5670-574: The ability to reach the 7,000 feet (2,100 m) necessary to tap the reservoirs. Before 1910, drillers made nine separate unsuccessful attempts to reach oil. A persistent attempt paid off in 1927, when the Milham Company drilled its Elliott No. 1 well: after 19 months of labor, in October 1928, at a depth of 7,108 feet (2,167 m), oil was found, and a terrific blowout ensued, which took three years to bring under control. Elliott No. 1 and other wells in

5775-441: The average ozone levels in Houston are lower than what is seen in most other areas of the country, as dominant winds ensure clean, marine air from the Gulf. Excessive man-made emissions in the Houston area led to a persistent increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the city. Such an increase, often regarded as "CO 2 urban dome", is driven by a combination of strong emissions and stagnant atmospheric conditions. Moreover, Houston

5880-403: The city dramatically. Such restrictions have had mixed results. Though some have blamed the city's low density, urban sprawl , and lack of pedestrian-friendliness on these policies, others have credited the city's land use patterns with providing significant affordable housing, sparing Houston the worst effects of the 2008 real estate crisis . The city issued 42,697 building permits in 2008 and

5985-435: The city have a high risk of localized flooding due to flat topography, ubiquitous low- permeability clay-silt prairie soils, and inadequate infrastructure. During the mid-2010s, Greater Houston experienced consecutive major flood events in 2015 ( "Memorial Day" ), 2016 ( "Tax Day" ), and 2017 ( Hurricane Harvey ). Overall, there have been more casualties and property loss from floods in Houston than in any other locality in

6090-601: The city in addition to Downtown , which include Uptown, the Texas Medical Center , Midtown , Greenway Plaza , Memorial City , the Energy Corridor, Westchase , and Greenspoint . Houston had the fifth-tallest skyline in North America (after New York City, Chicago , Toronto and Miami ) and 36th-tallest in the world in 2015. A seven-mile (11 km) system of tunnels and skywalks links Downtown buildings containing shops and restaurants, enabling pedestrians to avoid summer heat and rain while walking between buildings. In

6195-571: The city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome , nicknamed the " Eighth Wonder of the World ", opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium. During the late 1970s, Houston had a population boom as people from the Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers. The new residents came for numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab oil embargo . With

6300-419: The city. Land in some areas southeast of Houston is sinking because water has been pumped out of the ground for many years. It may be associated with slip along the faults; however, the slippage is slow and not considered an earthquake, where stationary faults must slip suddenly enough to create seismic waves. These faults also tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed " fault creep ", which further reduces

6405-459: The confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing ) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city is named after former General Sam Houston , who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas's independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. After briefly serving as the capital of

SECTION 60

#1732851679018

6510-509: The country". Houston's diversity, historically fueled by large waves of Hispanic and Latino Americans, and Asian immigrants, has been attributed to its relatively lower cost of living compared to most major cities, strong job market, and role as a hub for refugee resettlement . Kettleman North Dome Oil Field The Kettleman North Dome Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in Kings and Fresno counties , California. Discovered in 1928, it

6615-424: The depleted reservoir, serving three purposes: 1) to offset atmospheric emissions; 2) to assist in natural gas recovery, by increasing reservoir pressure; and 3) to mitigate subsidence of the overlying land, which is slowly collapsing into the vacated space, as is common over depleted petroleum fields. Gas from the field enters a series of pipelines at six distribution points, with two primary downstream uses: 1) as

6720-538: The discovery of oil at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development of the Texas petroleum industry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $ 1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910, the city's population had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before. African Americans formed a large part of the city's population, numbering 23,929 people, which

6825-570: The domestic slave trade. New Orleans was the center of this trade in the Deep South, but slave dealers were in Houston. Thousands of enslaved black people lived near the city before the American Civil War . Many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. In 1840, the community established a chamber of commerce, in part to promote shipping and navigation at

6930-567: The entire Kettleman Hills North Dome Oil Field in 1997, but as of 2008 the oil field is run by Chevron Corporation . Boom Town , a 1940 film about wildcatting in the early Oklahoma oil industry, starred Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy . The film ends with the Gable and Tracy characters preparing to be the first oil men to drill on the Kettleman Dome. Wildcatting: The Hills of Kettleman by Eloise Sterling Hirt, Theodore Kesler Sterling, et al.,

7035-530: The erosion of the Rocky Mountains . These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic marine matter, that over time, transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath the layers of sediment is a water-deposited layer of halite , a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into salt dome formations, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from

7140-469: The field for part of the year, selling it to Calpine Natural Gas Co. (now Calpine Corporation ) in October 1999. When Calpine filed for bankruptcy in 2005, Rosetta Resources Inc. formed for the purpose of acquiring the oil and gas resources of Calpine; they took over operation in July 2005, and continue to run the field as of 2010. Occasional conflicts have occurred over land use in the field. While developers of

7245-414: The field, varying in depth from 2,450 feet (the "Sidney" zone) to 9,600 feet (the "Peterson" zone, discovered in 1966). As of 2010, Rosetta Resources claimed to have produced from zones as deep as 11,000 feet. The discovery well for the field was "Emigh No. 1", which came in on June 19, 1936, drilled by Amerada Petroleum Corporation. It flowed 8,750,000 cubic feet (248,000 m) of gas per day, and had

7350-494: The first time that May. The Republic of Texas granted Houston incorporation on June 5, 1837, as James S. Holman became its first mayor. In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County). In 1839, the Republic of Texas relocated its capital to Austin . The town suffered another setback that year when a yellow fever epidemic claimed about one life for every eight residents, yet it persisted as

7455-544: The formation of numerous natural gas reservoirs in the Basin. These reservoirs have filled with gas by slow accumulation, with gas migrating from distant source rock over millions of years. The Rio Vista, at the southern end of the Sacramento Basin, is the largest of these regional gas fields. Overall the field is an anticlinal structure somewhat akin to a dome, with its axis running northwest to southeast. One large fault ,

7560-526: The gas field from west to east, bridging the Sacramento and Mokelumne Rivers ; and California State Routes 84 and 160 cross the field from north to south, with Route 160 built on levees much of the way. Much of the field underlies islands in the Delta, some of which are accessible only by ferry. Included in the gas field are Bradford Island , Twitchell Island , Brannan Island , Andrus Island , and parts of Tyler , Sherman , and Decker Island . Most of

7665-436: The highest point in far northwest Houston is about 150 feet (46 m) in elevation. The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston , Lake Conroe , and Lake Livingston . The city owns surface water rights for 1.20 billion U.S. gallons (4.5 Gl) of water a day in addition to 150 million U.S. gallons (570 Ml)

7770-441: The hills at the southern extremity of the North Dome, and SR 269 , which connects the town of Avenal to Interstate 5, crosses the hills in the middle of the North Dome. North Dome itself is one of the longest of the California oil fields; only Midway-Sunset is longer. Its long axis, northwest to southeast, is approximately 14 miles (23 km), and it is almost three miles (5 km) across at its widest point. The oil field

7875-538: The hills. The Rio Vista field is within the Sacramento Basin , a large structural trough between the California Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada , filled with up to 40,000 feet (12,000 m) of sediments deposited over tens of millions of years. Wide variations in porosity and permeability within these sedimentary rock layers, along with abundant structural and stratigraphic traps , have allowed for

7980-489: The huge Temblor pool produced 3,670 barrels a day during that period; the initial measured pressure was 3,540 psi (24,400 kPa). The town of Avenal , originally named Milham City after the oil company, quickly grew near the field, the latest in a series of oil boom towns in the California Central Valley . Other oil drillers active at Kettlemen include Fred M. Manning . Unrestricted production of oil at

8085-616: The increase in professional jobs, Houston has become a destination for many college-educated persons, most recently including African Americans in a reverse Great Migration from northern areas. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor. Houston has continued to grow into the 21st century, with the population increasing 15.7% from 2000 to 2022. Oil and gas have continued to fuel Houston's economic growth, with major oil companies including Phillips 66 , ConocoPhillips , Occidental Petroleum , Halliburton , and ExxonMobil having their headquarters in

8190-483: The land area within these islands – much of which is below sea level – consists of agricultural fields protected by levees constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drilling and maintenance pads for the gas wells are interspersed among agricultural fields, recreational areas, vacation homes, and waterways. Elevations on the gas field range from around 180 feet (55 m) in the Montezuma Hills southwest of Rio Vista to around ten feet below sea level in parts of

8295-506: The largely depleted field contains one of the biggest potential underground gas storage reservoirs in the region – 3.6 trillion cubic feet (100 km) of gas filled a lot of pore space in the source rocks – the field was part of a regional study done by the California Geological Survey to assess the potential value of the area for carbon sequestration . Several gigatons of carbon dioxide could conceivably be pumped into

8400-603: The largest of all, the enormous Midway-Sunset field in the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley. The total productive area of the Kettleman Hills North Dome is 13,700 acres (55 km ). Within the Kettleman Hills, oil is found in the large structural trap formed by the anticline . The large McLure Formation , of upper Miocene age, forms the impermeable cap beneath which enormous quantities of oil have pooled over millions of years, principally in

8505-570: The metro area, and an event on December 7, 2017, which precipitated 0.7 inches (2 cm) of snowfall. Snowfalls of at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) on both December 10, 2008, and December 4, 2009, marked the first time measurable snowfall had occurred in two consecutive years in the city's recorded history. Overall, Houston has seen measurable snowfall 38 times between 1895 and 2018. On February 14 and 15, 1895, Houston received 20 inches (51 cm) of snow, its largest snowfall from one storm on record. The coldest temperature officially recorded in Houston

8610-611: The national record for rainfall. The damage for the Houston area was estimated at up to $ 125 billion U.S. dollars , and was considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States , with the death toll exceeding 70 people. Houston's lack of zoning laws allowed unregulated building of residential homes and other structures in flood-prone areas. However, it also resulted in more concentrated development in already urban areas than in wetlands and suburbs. Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted of Hurricane Harvey that "zoning wouldn't have changed anything. We would have been

8715-461: The new floodplain regulations, the developers needed to elevate the lowest floors two feet above the 500-year floodplain, equivalent to five or six feet above the 100-year base flood elevation, and build a channel to direct stormwater runoff toward detention basins. Before Hurricane Harvey, the city had bought $ 10.7 million in houses in this area specifically to take them out of danger. In addition to developing new streets and single-family housing within

8820-483: The newly created port on Buffalo Bayou. By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont . During the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for Confederate Major General John B. Magruder , who used the city as an organization point for

8925-423: The normal mean temperature at George Bush Intercontinental Airport is 53 °F (12 °C), with an average of 13 days per year with a low at or below 32 °F (0 °C), occurring on average between December 3 and February 20, allowing for a growing season of 286 days. Twenty-first century snow events in Houston include a storm on December 24, 2004 , which saw 1 inch (3 cm) of snow accumulate in parts of

9030-482: The notional town in honor of Sam Houston, who would become President later that year. They successfully lobbied the Republic of Texas Congress to designate Houston as the temporary capital, agreeing to provide the new government with a state capitol building. About a dozen persons resided in the town at the beginning of 1837, but that number grew to about 1,500 by the time the Texas Congress convened in Houston for

9135-477: The oil industry at the time. Production from Kettleman peaked in 1936, with over 29 million barrels pumped during that year, making it one of the most productive fields in the United States. In 2006, the latest year for which data was available, production was a mere 128,000 barrels, even with the modern technologies available. Unlike many of the other major California oil fields, enhanced recovery methods have been used minimally at Kettleman Hills. Water flooding

9240-485: The port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however, the war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products by the defense industry during the war. Ellington Field , initially built during World War I , was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators. The Brown Shipbuilding Company

9345-448: The postwar years. In 1945, the M.D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center . After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. In 1948, the city annexed several unincorporated areas, more than doubling its size. Houston proper began to spread across the region. In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston, where wages were lower than those in

9450-410: The principal operator, although a few scattered smaller operators remained active on the field, mainly on the outlying portions. In 1969 Amerada Petroleum merged with Hess Oil and Chemical Corporation , acquiring its present name of Amerada Hess Corporation . Amerada Hess continued to operate much of the field until January 1999, at which time they sold it to Sheridan Energy, Inc. Sheridan only held

9555-505: The risk of an earthquake. The city of Houston was incorporated in 1837 and adopted a ward system of representation shortly afterward, in 1840. The six original wards of Houston are the progenitors of the 11 modern-day geographically oriented Houston City Council districts, though the city abandoned the ward system in 1905 in favor of a commission government , and, later, the existing mayor–council government . Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside

9660-481: The second-most Fortune 500 headquarters of any U.S. municipality within its city limits. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. Nicknamed the "Bayou City", "Space City", "H-Town", and "the 713 ", Houston has become a global city , with strengths in culture, medicine, and research. The city's population comprises various ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as

9765-506: The south half of the lower league [2,214-acre (896 ha) tract] granted to her by her late husband. They paid $ 5,000 total, but only $ 1,000 of this in cash; notes made up the remainder." This was financed by assets inherited by Augustus's wife, Charlotte Baldwin Allen . The Allen brothers ran their first advertisement for Houston just four days later in the Telegraph and Texas Register , naming

9870-475: The south of Houston and Downtown Houston. The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the Gulf of Mexico. Houston is a flat, marshy area where an extensive drainage system has been built. The adjoining prairie land drains into the city, which is prone to flooding. Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from river deposits formed from

9975-421: The summer, temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) an average of 106.5 days per year, including a majority of days from June to September. Additionally, an average of 4.6 days per year reach or exceed 100 °F (37.8 °C). Houston's characteristic subtropical humidity often results in a higher apparent temperature , and summer mornings average over 90% relative humidity . Air conditioning

10080-456: The supply for Calpine's regional gas-fired power plants , and 2) for storage and distribution via the PG&;E network to customers in northern California. 38°08′24″N 121°40′30″W  /  38.1400°N 121.6751°W  / 38.1400; -121.6751 Houston, Texas Houston ( / ˈ h juː s t ən / HEW -stən ) is the most populous city in

10185-466: The surrounding porous sands. The thick, rich, sometimes black, surface soil is suitable for rice farming in suburban outskirts where the city continues to grow. The Houston area has over 150 active faults (estimated to be 300 active faults ) with an aggregate length of up to 310 miles (500 km), including the Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system which runs through the center of

10290-586: The urban core. In addition to Interstate 610, two additional loop highways encircle the city: Beltway 8 , with a radius of approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown, and State Highway 99 (the Grand Parkway), with a radius of 25 miles (40 km). Approximately 470,000 people lived within the Interstate 610 loop, while 1.65 million lived between Interstate 610 and Beltway 8 and 2.25 million lived within Harris County outside Beltway 8 in 2015. Though Houston

10395-503: The vacated space. The same mechanism has been suggested for the 1983 Coalinga earthquake and the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake , both of which occurred near the centers of mature oil fields. The presence of a large oil field was long suspected in the Kettleman Hills region, since it is an anticlinal structure like so many of the nearby San Joaquin Valley oil fields; however, early test wells found nothing, since drilling methods then lacked

10500-481: Was 33.1, up from 32.9 in 2017 and down from 33.5 in 2014; the city's youthfulness has been attributed to an influx of an African American New Great Migration , Hispanic and Latino American, and Asian immigrants into Texas. For every 100 females, there were 98.5 males. There were 987,158 housing units in 2019 and 876,504 households. An estimated 42.3% of Houstonians owned housing units, with an average of 2.65 people per household. The median monthly owner costs with

10605-484: Was 5 °F (−15 °C) on January 18, 1930. The last time Houston saw single digit temperatures was on December 23, 1989. The temperature dropped to 7 °F (−14 °C) at Bush Airport, marking the coldest temperature ever recorded there. 1.7 inches of snow fell at George Bush Intercontinental Airport the previous day. Houston generally receives ample rainfall, averaging about 49.8 in (1,260 mm) annually based on records between 1981 and 2010. Many parts of

10710-582: Was founded in 1942 to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to the boom in defense jobs, thousands of new workers migrated to the city, both black, and white people competing for the higher-paying jobs. President Roosevelt had established a policy of nondiscrimination for defense contractors, and black people gained some opportunities, especially in shipbuilding, although not without resistance from white people and increasing social tensions that erupted into occasional violence. Economic gains of black people who entered defense industries continued in

10815-400: Was nearly one-third of Houston's residents. President Woodrow Wilson opened the deep-water Port of Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930, Houston had become Texas's most populous city and Harris County the most populous county. In 1940, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Houston's population as 77.5% White and 22.4% black. When World War II started, tonnage levels at

10920-417: Was ranked first in the list of healthiest housing markets for 2009. In 2019, home sales reached a new record of $ 30 billion. In referendums in 1948, 1962, and 1993, voters rejected efforts to establish separate residential and commercial land-use districts. Consequently, rather than a single central business district as the center of the city's employment, multiple districts and skylines have grown throughout

11025-464: Was used in both the Temblor and Vaqueros pools, between 1965 and 1977, but many of the enhanced recovery methods used successfully at other oil fields – steam flooding, fire flooding, gas injection, and so forth, which were so successful at Kern River , San Ardo , Midway-Sunset and elsewhere – have proved impractical because of the oil's relatively light API gravity and its depth. J.P. Oil Company, Inc., of Lafayette, Louisiana, took over operation of

#17982