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SACRAMENTO – Hal Bopp
has been named State Oil and Gas
Supervisor, California Department of
Conservation Director Darryl Young
announced.
Bopp, who has worked
for DOC’s Division of Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Resources since 1975,
replaces Bill Guerard. After nine years
as chief of the division, Guerard
retired last September.
“In the search for a
new State Oil and Gas Supervisor, it was
crucial that we find someone who was
respected not only by DOGGR staff, but
also by industry and other public
entities as well,” Young said. “Equally
critical to the position is the ability
to lead the division into the future.
Hal Bopp has all of those qualities.”
Bopp's main
responsibilities will be to direct the
state’s oil, gas and geothermal
regulatory programs and to provide
direction to a field staff that carries
out programs regulating the drilling,
operation, maintenance, and plugging and
abandonment of wells and related
facilities. He will also coordinate the
division's activities with those of
industry; professional, civic, and
independent groups; and other
governmental agencies.
Bopp graduated from
the University of Southern California
with a degree in civil engineering in
1969. He then joined the Navy, serving
as a civil engineer in Japan until 1972.
He spent three years with Caltrans
before coming to the Division of Oil,
Gas, and Geothermal Resources. He served
in several capacities with DOGGR, most
recently as District Deputy for Oil and
Gas District 4 (Kern County) for 12 1/2
years.
California ranks
fourth among oil producing states behind
Louisiana, Texas and Alaska,
respectively. California produced 293.7
million barrels of oil in 2001 from
47,263 wells in 206 active oil fields,
including federal offshore fields.
California also produced 380 billion
cubic feet of natural gas in 2001.
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