30 Miocene Reservoirs of California

Tuesday, 10 April 2001
1:25 PM - 4:30 PM

HOGAN TO HERITAGE: 33 YEARS OF PACIFIC OCS PRODUCTION

Paper number: 30-8
Program: THEME SESSIONS
Time: 3:30 PM – 3:50 PM

Authors

Abstract

As of December 1999, over 900 million barrels of oil and 1 trillion cubic feet of gas have been produced from oil and gas fields in the Pacific OCS Region. The Minerals Management Service manages these fields. Thirteen producing fields are located in the Region: Beta, Carpinteria, Dos Cuadras, Hondo, Hueneme, Pescado, Pitas Point, Point Arguello, Point Pedernales, Sacate, Santa Clara, Sockeye, and Tranquillon Ridge. The Pitas Point field is a gas field; the rest are oil. Dos Cuadras field has produced the most oil, 244 million barrels, and Hondo field has produced the most gas, 337 billion cubic feet. Production began in June 1968 from Carpinteria field; Sacate field was last in September 1999.

Oil production (December 1999) averaged about 120,000 barrels per day. Gas production averaged about 205 million cubic feet per day. Production comes from Tertiary sandstones and fractured cherts, with the Monterey formation producing the most oil and the Repetto formation the most gas. Seven companies operate 23 platforms: Aera, Arguello Inc., ExxonMobil, Nuevo, Pacific Operators, Torch, and Venoco. Platform water depths range from 95 to 1,198 feet.

Over 1,200 wells have been drilled in the Region. Producing well subsea depths range from 386 to 17,915 feet. Vertical, directional, horizontal, and multi-lateral wells have been drilled. The longest horizontal reach well, SA-002, was drilled in Sacate field in 2000. Well H-3, producing from Hondo field, has produced almost 30 million barrels of oil, which makes it the most prolific oil producer in California, and possibly the lower 48 states.