Offshore Oil And Gas In California
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Offshore oil and gas in California provides a significant portion of the state's petroleum production. Offshore oil and gas has been a contentious issue for decades, first over the question of state versus federal ownership, but since 1969 mostly over questions of resource development versus environmental protection. Notable offshore fields include the
Ellwood Oil Field Ellwood Oil Field (also spelled "Elwood") and South Ellwood Offshore Oil Field are a pair of adjacent, partially active oil fields adjoining the city of Goleta, California, about west of Santa Barbara, largely in the Santa Barbara Channel. A r ...
and the
Wilmington Oil Field The Wilmington Oil Field is a prolific petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States in terms of cumulative oil production. The field ...
, both of which are partially onshore and partially offshore, and the large Dos Cuadras Field in the
Santa Barbara Channel The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Count ...
, which is entirely in the federal zone. State offshore seabed in California produced of oil per day, and federal offshore tracts produced of oil per day in November 2008. State and federal offshore tracts together made up 16% of the state's oil production.


Pre-oil industry

Knowledge of the probable existence of oil off the coast of California dates back to the early European explorers who noted oil slicks in the
Santa Barbara channel The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Count ...
(see ''
Coal Oil Point seep field The Coal Oil Point seep field (COP) in the Santa Barbara Channel offshore from Goleta, California, is a marine petroleum seep area of about three square kilometres, within the Offshore South Ellwood Oil Field and stretching from the coastline so ...
''). In 1792, when the English explorer
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
anchored his ship in the Santa Barbara Channel, his navigator
George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...
wrote that the sea was “... covered with a thick, slimy substance,” and added “... the sea had the appearance of dissolved tar floating on its surface, which covered the ocean in all directions within the limits of our view.” In 1865, oil geologist Charles Jackson wrote: :“Off the coast of Santa Barbara. The strong smell of petroleum comes from the sea, the oil floating on the water.” A description of the oil and gas seeps offshore southern California can be found in a report on the California Division of Oil and Gas's website. The report is accompanied by a map, showing the locations of offshore
petroleum seep A petroleum seep is a place where natural liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons escape to the earth's atmosphere and surface, normally under low pressure or flow. Seeps generally occur above either terrestrial or offshore petroleum accumulation stru ...
s from Point Arguello (north of Santa Barbara) to Mexico.


Extension of onshore fields

Offshore drilling began in California in 1896, when operators in the
Summerland Oil Field The Summerland Oil Field (and Summerland Offshore Oil Field) is an inactive oil field in Santa Barbara County, California, about four miles (6 km) east of the city of Santa Barbara, within and next to the unincorporated community of Summerla ...
in
Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...
followed the field into the ocean by drilling from piers built out over the ocean. At least 187 offshore oil wells were drilled in the Summerland Field by 1902. A number of other coastal fields were extended offshore in Santa Barbara, Ventura,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and
Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
counties, usually by
directional drilling Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional drilling, utility installation directional drilling, directional boring (horizontal dire ...
. The
Wilmington Oil Field The Wilmington Oil Field is a prolific petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States in terms of cumulative oil production. The field ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
was extended offshore into
Long Beach Harbor The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wit ...
by drilling numerous wells directionally from four artificial islands in the harbor. The THUMS artificial islands, owned by the City of Long Beach, are landscaped with palm trees.


Ownership of offshore oil and gas

The issue of state versus federal ownership has a long and contentious history. The
US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
ruled in 1947 that the federal government owned all the seabed off the California coast. However, the
US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
passed the
Outer Continental Shelf The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a feature of the geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U. ...
Act in 1953, which recognized state ownership of the seabed within of the shore. In some cases, the state granted ownership of offshore seabed to the adjacent municipalities. In this way
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
was granted ownership of
Long Beach Harbor The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wit ...
in 1911. When the Wilmington field was discovered, Long Beach contracted with oil companies to produce oil from the city-owned offshore part of the field.


Offshore development

Oil production began from a man-made offshore island off Seal Beach in 1953. The first strictly offshore oil field in California was the Belmont Offshore Field, discovered in 1948 from the shore of
Seal Beach Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,242, up from 24,168 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Seal Beach is located in the w ...
; production did not begin until 1954 when a man-made island was built in 40 feet of water for drilling and production equipment. The first of ten federal offshore lease sales in California was held in 1963.


Santa Barbara spill and aftermath

The
Union Oil Company Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...
discovered the Dos Cuadras oil field in federal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel in 1968 but in 1969 large quantities of oil began escaping to the sea floor near a drilling well in the field. The resulting oil slick came ashore along of coastline in Santa Barbara County, and turned public opinion against offshore drilling in California. In response to the oil spill,
US Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural ...
Walter Hickel Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1 ...
removed of federal tracts near Santa Barbara from oil and gas leasing.


Halting new offshore leasing

California, like other states, owns and controls the mineral resources within of the coast. Leasing California state seabed is controlled by the California State Lands Commission, which halted further leasing of state offshore tracts after the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. In 1994 the California legislature codified the ban on new leases by passing the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, which prohibited new leasing of state offshore tracts. The federal government continued to hold offshore lease sales through 1982. Then the US Congress directed that no federal funds be used to lease additional federal tracts off the coast of California. Congress repeated the moratorium on new leases every year until September 2008, when an appropriations bill passed the House and Senate without the ban; however, no federal lease sales have been proposed for offshore California since the ban was lifted. A lawsuit by the state of California prevented the federal government from allowing development on 36 federal leases issued before the congressional moratorium. The federal government voided 29 of the contested leases by repaying $1.1 million in lease bonuses; the seven additional federal leases have not been resolved, but remain inactive because of the litigation. The Minerals Management Service estimates that the seven undeveloped leases contain of recoverable oil and of recoverable gas. In 1990, President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
issued an executive moratorium banning new federal leasing through the year 2000 in many offshore areas, including California. In 1998, President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
extended the moratorium through 2012. In July 2008, President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
rescinded the executive order.


Tranquillon Ridge field

Although leasing in state waters has been prohibited since 1994, the law allows exceptions when petroleum under state lands is being drained by nearby wells on non-state tracts; no such exceptions have been made to date. In 2008 both Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) and
ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
offered competing proposals to the state to drill wells into Tranquillon Ridge field, offshore Santa Barbara County. The Tranquillon Ridge field lies partly in state and partly in federal waters. Neither proposal entailed additional offshore surface structures. Plains proposed to drill wells directionally from their existing Irene Platform in federal waters. ExxonMobil proposed to drill directionally from wells onshore in
Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USS General Harry Taylor (AP-145), USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in K ...
. The Plains Exploration proposal was endorsed by the Environmental Defense Center and by Get Oil Out! On 29 January 2009 the State Lands Commission denied the applications by a 2-1 vote. The reason given for the denial was that "approving the lease request would send a message that additional drilling is possible off the California coast." In July 2009 Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
proposed allowing oil production from the state portion of Tranquillon Ridge field, as a way to increase state revenue, which would include a $100 million up-front payment to the state. The provision was defeated in the state legislature. On 3 May 2010, governor Schwarzenegger, reacting to the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considere ...
, withdrew his support for the Tranquillon Ridge drilling plan, stating, "I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fishermen out of work, the massive oil spill and oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem."


Current status

Despite the long-term bans on new leasing in state (since 1969) and federal waters (since 1984), drilling and production have continued on existing leases, from existing drilling and production platforms. Nine active offshore drilling and production locations remain in state and municipal waters: one platform and one artificial island in the Santa Barbara Channel, and four artificial islands and three platforms from the offshore portion of the
Wilmington Oil Field The Wilmington Oil Field is a prolific petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States in terms of cumulative oil production. The field ...
in San Pedro Bay/
Long Beach Harbor The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land wit ...
. The first artificial offshore island, for Belmont Offshore Field, was removed in 1999. , there is substantial offshore oil and gas production. Twenty seven platforms lie along the
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
coast from
Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
to
Point Conception Point Conception (Chumash: ''Humqaq'') is a headland along the Gaviota Coast in southwestern Santa Barbara County, California. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-s ...
in Santa Barbara County. Twenty-three offshore drilling and production platforms are in federal waters at depths that range from 100 to 1,200 feet. they produce 22 million barrels of oil and 21 billion cubic feet of gas per year. Four reside in state waters. Many of the platforms have been in place for 30 to 50 years and are not currently producing enough oil to make them worth maintaining.


Decommissioning Oil Platforms

Of the 23 oil platforms surrounding the coast of California, eight are no longer in usage or, due to terminated leases, are not allowed to resume production. The unused oil and gas platforms are in line for decommissioning in the near future. Along with these already abandoned oil platforms, the remaining facilities are expected to also require decommissioning as they reach 30-50 years in production. As of 2021, the Biden Administration announced that an environmental analysis would be conducted to establish the effects of complete or partial decommissioning of oil and gas platforms. The federal investigation, headed by the BSEE, will review oil facilities and platforms off of the Southern California coast and, subsequently, direct future action towards these offshore oil platforms. The oil platforms are surrounded by various species of fish and wildlife, topical to California, that could be impacted by the complete removal of the platform structure. Thus, alternative methods have been discussed and reviewed in place of traditional decommissioning. This includes the Rigs-to Reefs program that proposes to only partially remove parts of the oil platform, keeping a majority of the habitat intact for the wildlife.


Future potential

Several large, undeveloped offshore oil fields have been discovered; see first map in this article. Seven undeveloped leases are estimated to contain one billion barrels (0.16 km3) of recoverable oil and 500 billion cubic feet (14 km3) of recoverable gas. The total potential petroleum resource in offshore central California may be 4 to 6 billion bbls oil and 5 to 7 trillion cubic feet of gas, per 1996 estimates by USGS and MMS. Most of these fields are north of
Point Conception Point Conception (Chumash: ''Humqaq'') is a headland along the Gaviota Coast in southwestern Santa Barbara County, California. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-s ...
and are heavy oil. Some of these oil reserves could be produced by
directional drilling Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional drilling, utility installation directional drilling, directional boring (horizontal dire ...
from existing platforms. , political issues have prevented new development, but these fields contain a large and significant resource for the future. In 2020, the Trump administration had a proposal under development to outline potential sales near Southern California and other coastal areas of the United States.


See also

* California oil and gas industry *
Offshore oil and gas in the United States Offshore oil and gas in the United States provides a large portion of the nation’s oil and gas supply. Large oil and gas reservoirs are found under the sea offshore from Louisiana, Texas, California, and Alaska. Environmental concerns have p ...
*
Offshore oil drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...
*
Oil platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
*
Rigs-to-Reefs Rigs-to-Reefs (RTR) is the practice of converting decommissioned offshore oil and petroleum rigs into artificial reefs. Such biotic reefs have been created from oil rigs in the United States, Brunei and Malaysia.Brian TwomeyArtificial Reefs C ...
*
US offshore drilling debate The United States offshore drilling debate is an ongoing debate in the United States about whether, the extent to which, in which areas, and under what conditions, further offshore drilling should be allowed in U.S.-administered waters. The iss ...


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


DOGGR Online Mapping System

Interactive map of oil and gas platforms off the Pacific shore
* * C Petroleum production Energy in California Environmental issues in California