California and the National Oil Industry

Abstract

No INDUSTRY can be treated accurately as a monolithic entity-least of all the American petroleum industry. Where an industry is based on a natural resource, the location, quality, and amount of that resource in relation to the demand for it will have important implications for the strategy and structure of that industry. California's place in the national oil industry provides an excellent case in point. Separated from the main body of the industry by half a continent or more, a major source of crude oils discovered in commercial quantities much later than those east of the Rockies, and with a primary market in five western states characterized by rapid growth in this century, California has long been considered a self-contained petroleum province.' The purpose of this paper, which is intended to be merely exploratory in character, is to examine the extent to which this characterization remains accurate