petroleum - medium-heavy low sulfur API 19˚ gravity from the Devil's Den Oil Field - 2-ounce jar

The API gravity of this oil classifies it as a medium-heavy crude. The number compares its density to that of water in an inverse scale, with API 10 being arbitrarily assigned to water. Thus an oil with an API gravity greater than 10 will float on water. Forty eight percent of California oil is classified as intermediate. Unlike “sour” Alaskan oil with a high sulfur content, this oil has a notably low sulfur content.

This petroleum is produced from the  Early Miocene Carneros Sandstone Member of the Temblor Formation, where Alferitz is the local name for the producing horizon. The oil originates from the underlying Kreyenhagen shale. In the Alferitz, a "shallow" zone at a depth of 2,200 to 2,500 feet produces 19˚API gravity medium-heavy oil. A "deep" light oil zone produces 37˚API gravity crude. The gravity contrast exists because the Alfertiz is complexly faulted with sharp stratigraphic unconformities. The upper zone is influenced by meteoric water degradation. Marine sands or fractured shale lock in light 37˚ API gravity oil in the deeper zone. This  example is from the upper zone, from several producing wells.

The Devil's Den Oil Field was discovered in 1910 along the eastern edge of Avenal Ridge and the Pyramid Hills, though the 1898 official Kern County map documents the Alferitz Oil Company as owning parcels there. The area was remote, with a dirt highway carved through Avenal Gap to connect the town to the rest of Kings County. The field photos show the main street circa 1910 and a derrick in the field in 1932.

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