First Successful Cement Job

What is registered here is not a building or a battle but a procedure. Union Oil spudded Hill No. 4 in September 1905 and finished it the following April, and cement pumped down the tubing and up behind the casing sealed the water off from the oil. The hole produced for forty-five years after that, and cementing casing became standard practice on every well drilled since. The bronze and the well sit more than a mile inside a gated oil-company property northeast of Lompoc.

What the plaque says

First Successful Cement Job This well, Hill No. 4, Spudded September 26, 1905, and completed April 30, 1906, is the first oil well in which a water shut-off was attained by pumping cement through the tubing and behind the casing - forerunner of the modern cementing technique. It was drilled by Union Oil Company of California to a total depth of 2507 feet, and 1872 feet of 10-inch casing and 2237 feet of 8-inch casing were so securely cemented off that the well subsequently produced for over 45 years. The development of oil well cementing was one of the most significant events in the history of petroleum technology. It has increased the productive life of thousands of oil wells and has thereby made available for the good of humanity, millions of barrels of oil that might otherwise have remained in subterranean storage. This monument is also a tribute to a worthy pioneer, Frank F. Hill, under whose direction Hill No. 4 was drilled, and to whom the petroleum industry is indebted for initiating the oil well cementing process. Dedicated September 20, 1952 Union Oil Company of California Petroleum Production Pioneers, Inc. State Registered Landmark No. 582

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• La Purisima Mission — 3.6 mi
• Original Site of Mission de La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima — 6.4 mi
• Chapel of San Ramon — 13 mi
• Mission Santa Inés — 18 mi