Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field
Encyclopedia
The Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field is an oil and gas field in Santa Barbara Channel
, south of the city of Carpinteria
in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1964, and reaching peak production in 1969, it has produced over 106 million barrels of oil in its lifetime, and retains approximately 2 million barrels in reserve recoverable with present technology, according to the California State Department of Natural Resources. Currently the field is produced from three drilling platforms four to five miles (8 km) offshore, within Federal waters outside of the tidelands
zone. Two of the platforms are operated by Pacific Operators Offshore LLC (PACOPS), the operating arm of Carpinteria-based Carone Petroleum; the other platform is operated by Dos Cuadras Offshore Resources (DCOR). The Carpinteria field is the 50th largest field in California by total original oil in place, as of the end of 2008.
The Carpinteria field is one of the only fields offshore California to straddle the line between state and federal waters. The portion of the field in state waters was abandoned in 1996 with the dismantling of the two platforms operated by Chevron.
The field is divided into five leases, with three in the state tideland
s zone, and two in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) zone. The three drilling and production platforms remaining of the original five are in the western part of the field, arranged in a line running from west to east, with Henry on the west, followed by Platform Houchin and Platform Hogan, with Hogan nearest to the state tidelands boundary and the shore. Oil and gas from Platform Henry moves via undersea pipeline to DCOR's Rincon Plant processing facility, and oil and gas from Houchin and Hogan runs to PACOPS's La Conchita Plant, about two miles (3 km) northwest of the Rincon Facility, near the town of La Conchita
.
The three platforms are in 154 to 173 feet (52.7 m) of water, and range from 3.7 to 4.3 miles (6.9 km) from land.
to the west, the Carpinteria offshore field is part of a larger anticlinal
trend beginning on land north of Ventura
with the Ventura Oil Field
, and continuing with breaks west through the San Miguelito
and Rincon
oil fields, then running offshore to the Carpinteria and Dos Cuadras fields underneath the Santa Barbara Channel.
Producing units are primarily in the Lower Pliocene
Pico Sands. Rather than being one continuous oil reservoir, the oil is trapped in a series of narrow stratigraphic traps, with the more porous, oil-bearing sections of the sandstone interbedded with impermeable units, rather like a long layer cake slightly warped up along its long axis. Oil has pooled at the top of the anticlinal fold for each unit. A fault underneath this large interbedded sand unit has allowed the formation of yet another producing formation, called the Subthrust Pico; in this unit oil has pooled up against the fault, which has positioned impermeable units on top of porous, oil-bearing sand strata turned on their side. Average depth to the Pico Sands unit is about 3800 feet (1,158.2 m), and depth to the Subthrust Pico is around 6000 feet (1,828.8 m). Overall, 29 separate productive units have been isolated within the field, as of a 1997 reservoir modeling exercise carried out by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Pacific Operators Offshore.
Oil from the field is medium-grade, with an API gravity
from 26 to 27.
Signal Petroleum, a subsidiary of the current owner (Carone Petroleum), took over operation of platforms Houchin and Hogan in 1990, becoming the first independent oil and gas operator offshore on the west coast; at this time, the other offshore platforms were still operated by the majors (primarily Union, Exxon, Texaco, Chevron, and Phillips). In addition to the platforms, the company acquired the oil and gas processing plant at La Conchita, on the mountain side of the U.S. Highway 101 freeway where it runs along the sea.
Platform Henry, in federal lease OCS-P 0240, has a more convoluted history. The federal government awarded the lease to Sunray DX on April 1, 1968, but their successor (Sun Oil Co.) did not install Platform Henry until August 31, 1979. The platform passed over to Unocal in 1990, and then to Torch Energy in 1996. Torch sold to Nuevo Energy in 1997, and when Plains Exploration & Production
acquired Nuevo in 2004 the platform became one of several operated by Plains. Plains sold their operations on the field to DCOR on March 22, 2005.
Chevron Corp., the successor to Standard Oil, ran the two platforms in the State leases, ceasing operations in 1992 due to the decline in oil prices and in reservoir productivity. They shut in the wells, and then formally abandoned them and removed both platforms in 1996. Believing that the state portion of the field could be made economical again, and that reserves were not completely depleted, in June 2001 Carone Petroleum proposed to reopen that part of the field by directionally drilling from platform Hogan, which is in federal waters. As of 2010 that has not occurred.
At the end of 2008, there were 44 producing wells remaining on the Carpinteria offshore field distributed between the three platforms, and they reported a water cut of 82%, indicating a mature field in decline (of all the fluid pumped from the field, 82% was water).
Santa Barbara Channel
The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Pacific Ocean which separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the city of Ventura....
, south of the city of Carpinteria
Carpinteria, California
Carpinteria is a small oceanside city located in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California, east of Santa Barbara and northwest of Ventura. The population was 13,040 at the 2010 census, down from 14,194 at the 2000 census....
in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1964, and reaching peak production in 1969, it has produced over 106 million barrels of oil in its lifetime, and retains approximately 2 million barrels in reserve recoverable with present technology, according to the California State Department of Natural Resources. Currently the field is produced from three drilling platforms four to five miles (8 km) offshore, within Federal waters outside of the tidelands
Tidelands
Tidelands are the territory between the high and low water tide line of sea coasts, and lands lying under the sea beyond the low-water limit of the tide, considered within the territorial waters of a nation. The United States Constitution does not specify whether ownership of these lands rests with...
zone. Two of the platforms are operated by Pacific Operators Offshore LLC (PACOPS), the operating arm of Carpinteria-based Carone Petroleum; the other platform is operated by Dos Cuadras Offshore Resources (DCOR). The Carpinteria field is the 50th largest field in California by total original oil in place, as of the end of 2008.
The Carpinteria field is one of the only fields offshore California to straddle the line between state and federal waters. The portion of the field in state waters was abandoned in 1996 with the dismantling of the two platforms operated by Chevron.
Setting
The oil field is one of many discovered in the 1960s and 1970s underneath the ocean bottom offshore of Southern California. Most of the field is in relatively shallow water, with the water depths ranging from about 120 to 200 feet (61 m). It is about three miles (5 km) long by one half mile across, extending from west-southwest to east-northeast, and has a total productive surface area of approximately 340 acres (1.4 km²).The field is divided into five leases, with three in the state tideland
Tideland
Tideland is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age novel Whompyjawed and the novel-in-verse Branches....
s zone, and two in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) zone. The three drilling and production platforms remaining of the original five are in the western part of the field, arranged in a line running from west to east, with Henry on the west, followed by Platform Houchin and Platform Hogan, with Hogan nearest to the state tidelands boundary and the shore. Oil and gas from Platform Henry moves via undersea pipeline to DCOR's Rincon Plant processing facility, and oil and gas from Houchin and Hogan runs to PACOPS's La Conchita Plant, about two miles (3 km) northwest of the Rincon Facility, near the town of La Conchita
La Conchita, California
La Conchita is a small unincorporated community in western Ventura County, California, on U.S. Route 101 just southeast of the Santa Barbara county line...
.
The three platforms are in 154 to 173 feet (52.7 m) of water, and range from 3.7 to 4.3 miles (6.9 km) from land.
Geology
Along with the Dos Cuadras fieldDos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field
The Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field is a large oil and gas field underneath the Santa Barbara Channel about eight miles southeast of Santa Barbara, California. Discovered in 1968, and with a cumulative production of over 260 million barrels of oil, it is the 24th-largest oil field within California...
to the west, the Carpinteria offshore field is part of a larger anticlinal
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
trend beginning on land north of Ventura
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
with the Ventura Oil Field
Ventura Oil Field
The Ventura Oil Field is a large and currently productive oil field in the hills immediately north of the city of Ventura in southern California in the United States. It is bisected by California State Route 33, the freeway connecting Ventura to Ojai, and is about eight miles long by two across,...
, and continuing with breaks west through the San Miguelito
San Miguelito Oil Field
The San Miguelito Oil Field is a large and currently productive oil field in the hills northwest of the city of Ventura in southern California in the United States. The field is close to the coastline, with U.S...
and Rincon
Rincon Oil Field
The Rincon Oil Field is a large oil field on the coast of southern California, about ten miles northwest of the city of Ventura, and about 20 miles east-southeast of the city of Santa Barbara. It is the westernmost onshore field in a series of three fields which follow the Ventura Anticline, an...
oil fields, then running offshore to the Carpinteria and Dos Cuadras fields underneath the Santa Barbara Channel.
Producing units are primarily in the Lower Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
Pico Sands. Rather than being one continuous oil reservoir, the oil is trapped in a series of narrow stratigraphic traps, with the more porous, oil-bearing sections of the sandstone interbedded with impermeable units, rather like a long layer cake slightly warped up along its long axis. Oil has pooled at the top of the anticlinal fold for each unit. A fault underneath this large interbedded sand unit has allowed the formation of yet another producing formation, called the Subthrust Pico; in this unit oil has pooled up against the fault, which has positioned impermeable units on top of porous, oil-bearing sand strata turned on their side. Average depth to the Pico Sands unit is about 3800 feet (1,158.2 m), and depth to the Subthrust Pico is around 6000 feet (1,828.8 m). Overall, 29 separate productive units have been isolated within the field, as of a 1997 reservoir modeling exercise carried out by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Pacific Operators Offshore.
Oil from the field is medium-grade, with an API gravity
API gravity
The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water. If its API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water; if less than 10, it is heavier and sinks...
from 26 to 27.
History, operations, and production
The Carpinteria offshore field was discovered in 1964 by geologists from Chevron and ARCO following the Rincon anticlinal trend, which implied the existence of oil reserves offshore. Production had already peaked at many onshore fields, and technology for drilling and producing offshore was just becoming available. The first part of the field to be found was within the state tidelands zone, and Standard Oil Company installed platforms Hope and Heidi in 1965 to produce from the field out to the tidelands limit. Federal lease OCS-P 0166 – the first federal lease in the Santa Barbara Channel – was awarded to Phillips Petroleum on December 15, 1966, and they installed platforms Hogan and Houchin on September 1, 1967, and June 10, 1968, respectively, to produce from the federal portion of the field.Signal Petroleum, a subsidiary of the current owner (Carone Petroleum), took over operation of platforms Houchin and Hogan in 1990, becoming the first independent oil and gas operator offshore on the west coast; at this time, the other offshore platforms were still operated by the majors (primarily Union, Exxon, Texaco, Chevron, and Phillips). In addition to the platforms, the company acquired the oil and gas processing plant at La Conchita, on the mountain side of the U.S. Highway 101 freeway where it runs along the sea.
Platform Henry, in federal lease OCS-P 0240, has a more convoluted history. The federal government awarded the lease to Sunray DX on April 1, 1968, but their successor (Sun Oil Co.) did not install Platform Henry until August 31, 1979. The platform passed over to Unocal in 1990, and then to Torch Energy in 1996. Torch sold to Nuevo Energy in 1997, and when Plains Exploration & Production
Plains Exploration & Production
Plains Exploration & Production, commonly known by its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol , is a U.S. petroleum company based in Houston, Texas. A spin-off from Plains Resources, Inc., the company was founded in 2002. Its operations, as of 2009, were all in North America, including California,...
acquired Nuevo in 2004 the platform became one of several operated by Plains. Plains sold their operations on the field to DCOR on March 22, 2005.
Chevron Corp., the successor to Standard Oil, ran the two platforms in the State leases, ceasing operations in 1992 due to the decline in oil prices and in reservoir productivity. They shut in the wells, and then formally abandoned them and removed both platforms in 1996. Believing that the state portion of the field could be made economical again, and that reserves were not completely depleted, in June 2001 Carone Petroleum proposed to reopen that part of the field by directionally drilling from platform Hogan, which is in federal waters. As of 2010 that has not occurred.
At the end of 2008, there were 44 producing wells remaining on the Carpinteria offshore field distributed between the three platforms, and they reported a water cut of 82%, indicating a mature field in decline (of all the fluid pumped from the field, 82% was water).