Kern County oil industry consumes a staggering amount of water

According to a recent article at the Circle of Blue website, Kern County, known for its agricultural production, still accounts for 10 percent of US oil production but consumes a staggering volume of water. According to the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, Kern County oil companies injected 54.6 billion gallons of water and steam into the ground in order to produce 162 million barrels of oil a year. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the life cycle requirements of extracting, transporting and refining a single barrel of oil - which yields over 40 gallons of various petroleum products - requires 1,850 gallons of water. And all that water used by Kern oil companies to extract 550,000 barrels of crude oil a day comes from the same source that farmers get it: California's network of irrigation projects.
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http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/california-drought-is-no-problem-for-kern-county-oil-producers/