The Long Beach Grunion Gazette summarized the thirty year history of Signal Hill Petroleum, with its grassroots beginning to its current leading stance in technology and community outreach.

The following is an excerpt from the August 7, 2014 Grunion Gazette Newspaper.

Photo courtesy of Long Beach Grunion Gazette: OIL & GAS ENTREPRENEURS. Craig Barto, Debra Montalvo Russell and David Slater stand by the Signal Hill Petroleum office

Signal Hill Petroleum Pumps Into 30th Year

Grunion Gazette, August 7, 2014

By Ashleigh Ruhl Editor

When father and son real estate developers Jerry Barto and Craig Barto purchased a piece of land in Costa Mesa in 1979, their intention was to build condos there.

Instead, they wound up in the oil and gas business.

“We just sort of fell into it,” Craig Barto said, adding that he and his father hired the best people they could to teach them all about oil and gas. “Oil prices spiked upwards, so instead of building condos, we ended up drilling 12 wells – years later, we did build homes there too.”

Soon after that Costa Mesa purchase, when Shell’s lands and leases in Signal Hill were put up for sale in 1982, the father and son owners of Barto Oil Company saw an opportunity that others didn’t. They made the purchase, for an undisclosed amount, and formed Signal Hill Petroleum in 1984; the company is celebrating its 30^th anniversary.

“It was a big deal, an icon (Shell) coming up for sale,” Craig Barto explained. “At that time, the 100 acres was mostly not developed, and we looked at it as an oil field as well as a real estate opportunity; whereas, others didn’t look at the property, didn’t look at this urban area as a positive thing, they saw it as a negative.”

They decided to find a way to integrate their background in real estate development into the business model, even though no one had done such a thing before. They wanted their drilling operations – which now include 400 wells and the 90-year-old Discovery Well – to be good, close neighbors with Long Beach and Signal Hill residents and business.

“Shell was focused on offshore projects, and they left this tremendous asset,” Craig Barto said. “Today, we’re producing one million barrels a year and employ 165 people… This spot, Signal Hill, has th most oil per acre, or square foot, than anywhere in the world.”

He added; “We are proud to be a local producer of oil, providing jobs in our communities and strengthening the American economy as a whole. It’s very important for our company in both the long and short term to keep growing, to be a better company, and to be the best neighbor we can be. We are proud to be helping America be more energy independent.”

Dave Slater, who serves as the executive vice president and COO for the privately-owned company, shared similar sentiments. He explained that Signal Hill Petroleum owns 95% of the wells in the Long Beach/Signal Hill Oilfield, which is one of 28 super fields in the continental United States.

“It’s always been an urban field with no fence around it,” Slater said. “That’s not always easy, but we’ve learned by necessity how our workplace can be someone else’s backyard or next door neighbor.”

What sets Signal Hill Petroleum apart from other energy companies, he said, is the company’s commitment to the community and to pioneering new technology – such as the first three-dimensional imaging system that wirelessly measure underground oil levels and seismic activity – as well as hiring innovative employees who find ways to effectively operate in close proximity to homes and businesses in a way that is unprecedented in the industry.

Other energy companies have tried to copy what Signal Hill Petroleum has done, but Slater said none have had the same success. He emphasizes that Signal Hill Petroleum’s best assets are the people who work there, not the minerals in the ground.

One such employee is Debra Montalvo Russell, the director of business development and community relations. She is charged with helping Signal Hill Petroleum give back. For the philanthropic work done by the company, Signal Hill Petroleum was named the 2013 winner of the Oil & Gas Award in Corporate Social Responsibility, among other honors.

Montalvo Russell said Signal Hill Petroleum helps causes that touch the hearts of the employees there. That ranges from preserving the Los Cerritos Wetlands to sponsoring summer concert and movie series to working with local police officers to deliver holiday gifts to the needy, among other causes. The company also supports the geoscience laboratory at CSULB.

“We like to invest in our backyard, in cases that we can feel good about,” Slater said, noting a large bookshelf full of thank you notes and thank you plaques displayed at the entrance to the company’s Signal Hill offices.

“Working so close to homes and businesses, it’s important that we are neighbor-friendly and involved in the community, which is our workplace,” Barto said. “Through our employees – from top, down – we stress the importance for all of us to be good neighbors.”

For more details about Signal Hill Petroleum, including a timeline of the company’s past 30 years, visit www.shpi.net.

Ashleigh Ruhl can be reached at aruhl@gazettes.com

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