UCGal,
That black tar on the beach in Santa Barbara is naturally occurring. This is a pretty well known fact. I am surprised you didn’t ask any locals.
Did you read your second website? You really pulled that quote out of context. Here is another quote from the same site;
“According to a report on “Oil in the Sea” from the National Academy of Sciences (1995), far more oil enters the ocean from natural, underwater seeps than from offshore production platforms. In fact, the seeps introduce about 1700 barrels of oil a day into U.S. marine waters, which is about 150 times the amount from oil and gas activities.”