Oil platform Gail in the Santa Barbara Channel, California 2

Venoco, Inc. was a company engaged in

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

. It primarily operated in the

Monterey Formation The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geological sedimentary formation in California, with outcrops of the formation in parts of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shore islands ...

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 2017, the company filed

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and was liquidated.

History

The company was founded in September 1992 by Timothy Marquez. In 2005, the company sold Big Mineral Creek field for $45 million. In November 2006, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. In 2007, the company acquired the

West Montalvo Oil Field The West Montalvo Oil Field is a large and productive oil field on the coast of Ventura County, California, in the United States, in and adjacent to the city of Oxnard, California. Discovered in 1947, it has produced approximately of oil, and ret ...

from

Berry Petroleum Company Berry Corporation is a company primarily engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in California (78% of 2019 production), the Uintah Basin (17% of 2019 production), and the Piceance Basin (5% of 2019 production). As of December 31, 2021, the company ...

for $63 million; it was sold in 2014 to

California Resources Corporation California Resources Corporation is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in California. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Los Angeles. It has the largest privately held mineral acreage position in California. The company ...

for $200 million. In 2011, the company spent $100 million to develop wells in the

. In 2012, the company became a

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

after Timothy Marquez acquired the 49% of the company that he did not own. In 2015, the

Refugio oil spill The Refugio oil spill on May 19, 2015, deposited of crude oil onto one of the most biologically diverse areas of the West Coast of the United States. The corroded pipeline blamed for the spill closed indefinitely, resulting in financial impac ...

resulted in the closure of a pipeline upon which the company depended; as a result production was reduced by 50%. In March 2016, the company filed

. On April 17, 2017, Venoco filed

again and began liquidation. At that time, the company was owned by affiliates of

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

. On January 4, 2018, the company relinquished 5 federal oil and gas leases offshore

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 ...

Fracking controversy

In 2011, a group of concerned citizens opposed Venoco's fracking operations in the

. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors initially cited Venoco for fracking without a permit, but later withdrew the claim. The site of the test wells was in a valley adjacent to two wine-producing regions,

Santa Ynez Valley AVA The Santa Ynez Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Santa Barbara County, California and was established on May 16, 1983 by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). It is part of the larger Central Coast AVA, and co ...

and

Santa Maria Valley AVA The Santa Maria Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) which straddles the boundary of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties in California's multi-county Central Coast AVA. It was established on August 5, 1981, by the Alcohol and ...

. In the Salinas basin, in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

, Venoco encountered opposition by environmental groups and concerned citizens over 9 proposed wells. Among the components listed in Venoco's proposed fracking fluid for Monterey County was a

gelling agent A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still di ...

with a 60 to 70% concentration of "petroleum distillate blend." The exact mixture was unknown as it is proprietary to manufacturer

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company, organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston, is one of the world's largest oil field services companies. The company provides products and services for oil well drilling, formation evaluation, completion, productio ...

References

{{Reflist, 1 1992 establishments in Colorado 2017 disestablishments in Colorado American companies established in 1992 Defunct companies based in Colorado Defunct oil companies of the United States Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2017