Plains Exploration & Production was a

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

exploration company based in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In May 2013, it was acquired by

Freeport-McMoRan Freeport-McMoRan Inc., often called Freeport, is an American mining company based in the Freeport-McMoRan Center, in Phoenix, Arizona. The company is the world's largest producer of molybdenum, is a major copper producer and operates the world's ...

History

In 2002, the company was separated from Plains Resources Inc. via a

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Characte ...

. In 2003, the company acquired 3TEC for $313 million. In 2004, it and acquired Nuevo Energy for $945 million. These acquisitions gave the company petroleum-producing assets in the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 2007, the company acquired Pogo Producing for $3.6 billion in cash and stock. In 2008, the company formed a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Chesapeake Energy Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

in the

Haynesville Shale The Haynesville Shale is an informal, popular name for a Jurassic Period rock formation that underlies large parts of southwestern Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, and East Texas. It lies at depths of 10,500 to 13,000 feet below the land’s surfac ...

. To fund the venture, the company sold assets in the Permian Basin and the Piceance Basin to

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

for $1.3 billion. In 2011, the company sold natural gas assets for $785 million, including a $600 million sale of assets in the Granite Wash to

Linn Energy Linn Energy, Inc. was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It was incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Houston. In 2018, the company split into Roan Resources and Riviera Resources. As of December 31, 2017, the company had 1.968 ...

. In 2012, the company acquired assets in the Gulf of Mexico from BP and

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

Operations

The company's operations were all in Wyoming, California, Texas, Louisiana, Wyoming, and offshore of California and in the Gulf of Mexico. The company had proved reserves of , of which 82% was petroleum. It also had a prospect offshore of Vietnam. In California, it was a principal operator on fields including

Cymric Oil Field The Cymric Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, California, in the United States. While only the 14th-largest oil field in California in total size, in terms of total remaining reserves it ranks fifth, with the equivalent of over still i ...

and the

South Belridge Oil Field The South Belridge Oil Field is a large oil field in northwestern Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California, about forty miles west of Bakersfield. Discovered in 1911, and having a cumulative production of over of oil at the end of 2008, it ...

in Kern County and

Inglewood Oil Field The Inglewood Oil Field in Los Angeles County, California, is the 18th-largest oil field in the state and the second-most productive in the Los Angeles Basin. Discovered in 1924 and in continuous production ever since, in 2012 it produced approxim ...

in Los Angeles County. Approximately 39% of production was

heavy crude oil Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly-viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cru ...

, almost all of which was sold to

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Westchase, Houston, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Compan ...

Valero Energy Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Can ...

was also a major customer of the company, accounting for 17% of revenues in 2012.

Attempts to drill in the Tranquillon Ridge in Santa Barbara County

The company attempted to negotiate a complex compromise deal 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 ...

with environmental groups and state regulators to allow for drilling into the undeveloped Tranquillon Ridge, off the western coast of the county, in return for the company decommissioning and doing environmental restoration on the old and mostly played-out Lompoc Oil Field, which consists of approximately of ecologically-sensitive habitat adjacent to the Burton Mesa Ecological Preserve. As part of the deal, the company would have drilled into Tranquillon Ridge only from the existing Platform Irene and would have retired the platform entirely in 2022. The project would have given the state of California $2 billion and Santa Barbara County about $350 million in tax revenues during that time. The County Board of Supervisors voted to approve the project and sent it on to the State Lands Commission, which rejected it by a 2 to 1 vote on January 29, 2009, citing the unenforceability of the sunset clause. In May 2009, California 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'' ...

revived the project by including it in a revised budget proposal. However, the proposal did not pass.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plains Exploration and Production Companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in Texas