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Title: California oil's past, present and future: Coastal District

Conference · · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5004241

Oil and gas exploration and development in the California Coastal District starts with the first well drilled in S. California in 1865 and progresses from an early period of exploration adjacent to surface oil seeps, through a 50-yr period of giant oil field discoveries and up to present-day offshore exploration in 1,300 ft of water from floating vessels. Exploration of the major geologic structures on shore has been extensive by not exhaustive, while many major structures offshore await penetration by the bit. There are 130 designated oil and gas fields in the District with a total estimated ultimate recovery of 3.260 billion bbl of oil, of which 2.659 billion bbl has been produced, leaving an estimated future recoverable oil of 600.3 million bbl using present known techniques. An estimated 17.3 billion bbl of oil in place are yet to be discovered. Past exploration and discoveries indicate that the future discoveries on shore are going to result from deep exploration of known structures and in the deeper parts of the basins. The final disposition of the Ventura-Santa Barbara Basin offshore area will bear heavily on the future of the oil industry in the District. (13 refs.)

OSTI ID:
5004241
Report Number(s):
CONF-721167-
Journal Information:
Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Vol. SPE-4212; Conference: 43. annual SPE of AIME California regional meeting, Bakersfield, CA, USA, 8 Nov 1972
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English