Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Los Angeles Basin, California, USA
Production: 2,377,000 barels of oil and 1.1 billion cubic feet of gas in 2015
Area: 1,200 acre
The 1,200 acre Inglewood field is one of the largest contiguous urban oil fields in the US. It’s adjacent to the communities of Baldwin Hills, View Park, Windsor Hills, Blair Hills, Ladera Heights, and Culver City. The petroleum-producing zones in Inglewood field range from 900-10,000 ft below ground level. A total of 1,475 wells have been drilled during the field’s life with 469 wells in active production and 168 waterflood injection wells actively operating. The Inglewood Oil Field has played an integral role in the history of oil production in the Los Angeles Basin. Over the past 86 years, more than 399 million barrels of oil have been produced from the field. The Inglewood Oil Field continues to be a steady source of domestic oil and natural gas and is the second most productive oil field in the entire L.A. Basin. Production at the field has averaged between 2.5 – 3.1 million barrels a year for the past ten years.
Looking ahead for the next 20 years, new drilling and production efforts at the Inglewood Oil Field will also be regulated by the Los Angeles County Community Standards District (CSD). The comprehensive guidelines put forth in the CSD are unique to the Inglewood Oil Field and regulate nearly every aspect of the oil field’s daily operations. These regulations make PXP’s Inglewood Oil Field the most stringently regulated urban oil field in California. Plains Exploration (PXP) has operated the field since December 2002. Conventional fracing has been done at the field. Plains Exploration conducted two high-volume frac jobs at separate wells for the purposes of the study. A frac completion was done in September 2011 at the VIC1-330 well and another frac completion was done in January 2012 at the VIC1-635 well. Halliburton Energy Services did the frac jobs, both in Nodular shale, a subunit of the Monterey shale. A study commissioned by Plains Exploration & Production Co. concluded hydraulic fracturing of two test wells at Inglewood oil field in Los Angeles County, Calif., indicated no detectable evidence that it might induce earthquakes or have negative consequences on groundwater quality. Microseismic monitoring and fracture mapping was done by Schlumberger Ltd. Both wells are vertical wells although fracing might be done in the future using horizontal wells. Plains Exploration also completed high-rate gravel pack jobs at two different wells early in 2012 to collect information for the study. Both operations were conducted in the Vickers and Rindge formations by Halliburton.
Operators:
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (acquired Plains Exploration & Production): Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Halliburton Energy Services: Perform the frac jobs, both in Nodular shale, a subunit of the Monterey shale
Schlumberger Ltd: Microseismic monitoring and fracture mapping