City of LA accused of stealing private crude oil

USA
(SANEPR.com) March 19, 2008 -- (Los Angeles – March 21, 2008) Over three months ago the existence of illegal pipelines from McAlmond Oil Company, Inc. in the Belmont District of Los Angeles to facilities owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles were exposed, yet the almost daily theft of crude oil from the oil company’s wells and tanks continues.
For the past several weeks Gas Company workers have been installing a gas line on Rockwood Street which runs in front of McAlmond Oil and in the process uncovered another pipeline that is now identified as an illegal pipeline leaving the oil company property to a city owned facility. Night after night, even, after discovering this additional pipeline, barrels of crude oil are being unlawfully drained from the company’s tank farm.
Phil McAlmond, president of McAlmond Oil asks, “Is anyone in a position of authority willing to step forward and stop the stealing of crude oil from my company?” In spite of the fact that Mayor Antonio Villagairosa of Los Angeles, the LA Fire Department, the LA Police Department, the FBI, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the news media have been made aware of the blatant ongoing stealing of crude oil from the tank farm and oil wells in the Belmont Area of Los Angeles the crime continues. McAlmond Oil is one of the few remaining independent crude oil producers in the city, owns ten oil wells and a small tank farm.
The owner of the company, Phil McAlmond, has now documented that a labyrinth of direct pipeline connections from the wells and the tank farm of McAlmond Oil Company have been secretly connected to the Echo Park Swimming Facility, a large complex owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles at the corner of Colton and Glendale Blvd. This city owned facility is just three blocks from the McAlmond Oil Company property where the ten oils wells are located at 1596 Rockwood St. There are also other pipelines leading from the property down Rockwood Street as well as Belmont to Beverly Blvd and ultimately to a DWP facility just one block east of Glendale Blvd with a pipeline “Christmas Tree” for transferring the stolen oil to a hotline going to Long Beach, California.
On Monday, March 17, 2008 the owner of McAlmond Oil Company claimed the oil being stolen is pumped through a 6” pipeline under Rockwood Street down to Glendale Blvd where it goes a short distance to a red building there. He claims there is a pipeline in the alley behind the building for loading.
Representatives from the City and County of Los Angeles and the State of California Department of Oil and Gas have repeatedly contended that there is no crude oil in the ground under the oil company property where McAlmond Oil has ten wells. However, when the wells were being drilled an Engineer from Halliburton Oil and Gas Division was on site taking shot side wall samples from the wells. When these were examined the Halliburton engineer reported to McAlmond that these were some of the most oil laden samples he had ever tested. Recently, a major Los Angeles newspaper reported that natural gas pressure underground is threatening Belmont High School just one block from McAlmond Oil Company. Mr. McAlmond points out that there is a high level of natural gas pressure in his wells and if he were allowed to pump and ship his crude oil he could also control the gas pressure that is threatening the school.
Phil McAlmond reported the discovery of the existence of the illegal pipelines to the city, the Los Angeles Police Department a number of times and to the FBI beginning many weeks ago, but nothing seemed to be done to stop the unlawful flow of the crude oil through the illegal direct connection or the unlawful bleeding off of the natural gas. It appeared those who were behind this scandal intended to keep doing this to support their contention that there is no crude oil of any quantity in the ground. Mr. McAlmond also believes there is a direct connection between what has been happening to the McAlmond Oil Company and the Belmont Learning Center Scandal. There have been reports that the city is ready to blame the Belmont school property contamination on the McAlmond Oil Company if this ongoing scandal is picked up by the press.
The first oil well on the property was drilled in 1940 and continued to pump crude until 1983. In December of 1983 Mayor Tom Bradley signed an Ordinance creating LAC-1 that allowed McAlmond Pil Company to drill the other nine wells. A number of the wells were logged and a number of shot side wall samples were taken. According to Halliburton Engineering all of them revealed a high saturation of high quality crude oil. Those logs and were samples tested and verified by the engineer from Halliburton and are now of file with the Department of Oil and Gas in Sacramento.
However, Mr. McAlmond stated that when he personally contacted the representative from the state that man played down what Halliburton’s tests showed saying there was nothing significant downhole. Mr. McAlmond says this is refuted by the samples Halliburton took and the ongoing gas pressure in the wells that the City has repeatedly been siphoning off to maintain their coverup.
Since the discovery of the ongoing theft of the oil and the ability of the city to bleed off much of the natural gas pressure from the wells thus preventing McAlmond Oil Company from collecting the crude and shipping it Mr. McAlmond has obtained copies of forged and fraudulent deed documents filed with the county regarding the ownership and corporate authority of individuals in McAlmond Oil Company. One document is an ownership transfer allegedly showing a signature purportedly of Mr. Phil McAlmond recorded by the county allegedly signed by him in the presence of a Notary in California when he was in another state. The thumb print on the recorded document has been blotted out obscuring its true identity. Mr. McAlmond states that he never signed or put his thumb print on any such document. He now claims to have documented evidence connecting the City of Los Angeles, the LA Fire Department, the LA Police Department and the State of California Oil and Gas Department in a conspiracy against his oil company.
Several times in the past it appeared the illegal taking of oil had stopped, the tanks were filling with crude and McAlmond Oil was ready to ship for the first time since 1994, but then the stealing started all over again.
Mr. McAlmond is certain if the ongoing publicity exposes this scandal on a wide enough scale the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the California Department of Oil and Gas and the state of California will not be able to continue to cover it up.
McAlmond Oil Company also owns exclusive mineral rights to 14 acres of land in the Belmont area. No one can drill for oil on those 14 acres except with the approval of Mr. McAlmond. He believes that is one of the reasons for their actions and continuing cover up to somehow wrest that right and control away from him. Mr. McAlmond hopes the media will continue to look into this so that the city, county and state will stop and not attempt to start stealing again.

(For further information contact Phil McAlmond at 1596 Rockwood Street, Los Angeles, California.)