33-818: The Midway-Sunset Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County , San Joaquin Valley , California in the United States. It is the largest known oilfield in California and also the largest oil field in the country by total oil in place (around 27 billion barrels of mostly heavy oil), though Alaska's Prudhoe Bay Oil Field and the East Texas Oil Field have larger total production values of over 13 billion barrels and 5.4 billion barrels respectively compared to Midway-Sunset which has produced nearly 4 billion barrels. The field
66-610: A Delaware corporation. Aera and Aera Services employ about 1,100 people and hundreds of contractor companies. The company began operating as Aera Energy LLC on June 1, 1997, and consists of the California onshore and offshore exploration and production assets previously operated by CalResources LLC (a former Shell affiliate), Mobil Exploration & Producing US Inc. (now an ExxonMobil affiliate), and ARCO . In 2017, Aera Energy launched its plan to build California's largest solar field in partnership with GlassPoint Solar. This initiative called Belridge Project covers 770 acres and it
99-871: A $ 2.1 billion, all-stock purchase acquisition of Aera. Most of Aera's production is located in the San Joaquin Valley . The company also has oil field operations in Ventura , Monterey and Fresno counties and has begun the permitting process to redevelop the East Cat Canyon oilfield in northern Santa Barbara County . Aera produces approximately 126,300 barrels of oil and 32 million cubic feet of natural gas each day, and has proved oil and natural gas reserves equivalent to approximately 536 million barrels of oil. Aera produces nearly 25 percent of California's oil and natural gas. The work force needs of Aera are provided by Aera Energy Services Company (Aera Services),
132-412: Is a California limited liability company , and one of California's largest oil and natural gas producers, with an approximate 2015 revenues of over $ 2 billion. Aera is operated as a stand-alone company through its board of managers. In August 2022, IKAV, a European investment company, announced it was buying Aera from Shell and ExxonMobil. In July 2024, California Resources Corporation completed
165-482: Is also used to boost reservoir pressures. As the Midway-Sunset field has a large amount of heavy oil requiring steam to allow its recovery, many of the field operators have built cogeneration plants to both sell power to the electric grid and create steam for their operations. This kind of power plant burns natural gas, abundantly available on site, and converts the energy into both electricity and steam used to flood
198-442: Is constructed to assist the company's oil extraction process and make it more sustainable. The Coles Levee Ecosystem Preserve, located about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Bakersfield , consists of 6,059 acres (24.52 km ) of habitat. More than a dozen rare, threatened and endangered birds, animals and plant life can be found in the preserve. The preserve encompasses the last two miles (3 km) of riparian habitat along
231-603: The Chevron Corporation . Other operators on the field included large firms such as Occidental Petroleum and Plains Exploration & Production , as well as numerous independents, such as Holmes Western Oil Corporation, Berry Petroleum , E&B Natural Resources, Crimson Resource Management. As of the end of 2008, the most recent date for which data was available, the field contained 11,494 producing wells, more than any other oil field in California (the Kern River Field
264-710: The Kern River , where it drains into Buena Vista Lake. Established in 1992 by ARCO and the California Department of Fish and Game , the preserve was acquired by Aera in 1998. The preserve is largely riparian habitat and is surrounded by active oil fields (the North Coles Levee Oil Field and South Coles Levee Oil Field, as well as the Elk Hills Oil Field to the west, operated by California Resources Corporation. As oil and gas production declines in
297-552: The Los Angeles Basin , Aera is planning to develop some property holdings in Orange and Los Angeles counties for residential, commercial, and recreation uses while setting aside large portions of its property as natural open space. The company calls this initiative Brea 265, which aims to develop former oil fields into residential areas. The master planned community of Vista Del Verde, Aera's first real estate development, followed
330-713: The Temblor Range to the southwest. Most of the oil field is in the Midway Valley and the northeastern foothills of the Temblor Range. To the northeast are the Buena Vista Hills , paralleling the Midway Valley and the Temblors ; the mostly exhausted, and partially abandoned Buena Vista Oil Field lies beneath this adjacent low range of hills. State Route 33 runs along the axis of the Midway-Sunset for much of its length, and
363-439: The 1890s and cattle grazing operations since the 1850s. Aera is pursuing approvals to develop this property for residential and commercial uses while devoting more than 1,500 acres (6.1 km ) to recreation uses and open space restoration. The project will also preserve and enhance a wildlife corridor to improve regional open space connectivity. Aera owns a 50 percent interest in approximately 400 acres (1.6 km ) known as
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#1732858786981396-581: The 20th century, with new discoveries still occurring in the 1980s. Most reservoirs occur in the Miocene -age Monterey Formation , with depths usually to 4,900 feet (1,500 m), although one discovery, the "PULV" Pool of 1979, was 8,700 feet (2,700 m) below ground surface. The only well developed at this depth, and the only well in the PULV pool, was abandoned a year after it was drilled. The principal operators of Midway-Sunset, as of 2008, were Aera Energy LLC and
429-723: The Dome Project by Nuevo Energy (now Plains Exploration & Production ); Aera Energy LLC ; Midset Cogeneration; the Arco Oxford plant near Fellows ; a Chevron plant in the hills south of Taft; the M.H. Whittier plant east of Taft ; and the Monarch, Berry Petroleum, and Chalk Cliff Cogeneration plants between Maricopa and Taft. The Midway-Sunset field continued as California's top producing field in 2012, with 29.3 million barrels (4,660,000 m) produced, down from 30.6 million barrels (4,870,000 m) in 2011. The estimated ultimate size of
462-487: The Midway-Sunset oilfield resource has been repeatedly raised during its more than 120 years of production. The first published estimate of its size was just under 1,000 million barrels (160,000,000 m) in the 1930s. New reservoirs continued to be discovered into the 1950s. In the early 1960s, operators began pilot cyclic steam injection , which proved successful, and steam flooding in the 1960s and 70s worked even better. Reserves were revised upward repeatedly beginning in
495-518: The Newport Banning Ranch property on the western edge of the city of Newport Beach . Aera is a participant in Newport Banning Ranch, LLC, which has submitted a proposal to build 1,375 homes, parks, a coastal inn, and a small commercial center on about 153 acres (0.62 km ) of the site, while preserving and restoring more than 55 percent of the property for open space and wildlife habitat uses. The project would remove oil facilities and restore
528-673: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 760705554 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:39:47 GMT Aera Energy LLC Aera Energy LLC (or simply Aera ) is a natural gas, oil exploration and production company started as a joint venture between Shell plc (through Shell USA ) and Mobil (which later merged to form ExxonMobil ). Headquartered in Bakersfield, California , Aera Energy LLC
561-502: The decommissioning and cleanup of the 850-acre (3.4 km ) Yorba Linda oil field. The community includes housing, parks, an elementary school, and a city-owned golf course, Black Gold Golf Club. As part of the development, Aera added more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km ) of adjacent, company-owned land to the Chino Hills State Park , and provided funding for the restoration, enhancement, and maintenance of native habitats within
594-493: The end of 2009, 2,500 million barrels (400,000,000 m) of oil had been extracted from the field, leaving an estimated 576 million barrels (91,600,000 m) of recoverable oil remaining. The remaining oil amounted to 17% of California's total estimated reserve of 3.0 billion barrels (480,000,000 m). 35°07′48″N 119°27′39″W / 35.1301°N 119.4608°W / 35.1301; -119.4608 Oil field Too Many Requests If you report this error to
627-648: The farm. In 2004, a Kern County Superior Court jury awarded the Fred Starrh family more than $ 7 million, though they originally sought $ 3 to $ 4 billion for damages and cleanup. Both sides appealed to the California Court of Appeal , Fifth District. The Court granted a partial directed verdict and ordered a new trial. In 2009, Starrh refiled the lawsuit in the Kern County Superior Court. There were two subsequent jury trials, in 2009 and 2013. Aera Energy
660-607: The heavy oil reservoir in the field itself. One of the largest of these, a 225-megawatt facility, was built by the Sun Cogeneration Company and a subsidiary of Southern California Edison on the western boundary of the field, along Crocker Springs Road. A construction permit was approved in 1987 and the plant began operation two years later; it is now known as the Midway-Sunset Cogeneration Company. The State Energy Commission only allowed construction of
693-524: The last to be discovered). Throughout the field, the Tulare is often the capping impermeable formation, underneath which oil collects, but in some areas it is a productive unit in its own right. Its average depth is 200 to 1,400 feet (60 to 430 m). One of the next reservoirs to be discovered was the Gusher Pool, which, when found in 1909, took its name from the event itself: a large oil gusher. This occurrence
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#1732858786981726-603: The late 1960s (see chart, left). An upward revision in 1991 of 500 million barrels (79,000,000 m) of oil was followed in 1999 by another jump in reserves of more than 700 million barrels (110,000,000 m). From 1988 to 1998, about 80 percent of the oil produced at Midway-Sunset (477 million barrels (75,800,000 m) of 600 million barrels (95,000,000 m) produced) was "incremental" production attributable to enhanced recovery. It seems likely that additional reserve additions can be made, if operators are successful in further improving enhanced oil recovery techniques. Through
759-524: The most densely developed part of the field, and rejoins Route 33 just south of Derby Acres . Crocker Springs Road, which passes over the Temblor Range to the Carrizo Plain , intersects Mocal Road about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of its intersection with Route 33. Another public road that passes through part of the Midway-Sunset Field is Petroleum Club Road, which runs southeast from Taft, and passes
792-466: The park. Two additional real estate projects are being planned. The Aera Master Planned Community would develop approximately 3,000 acres (12 km ) of company-owned land in unincorporated Los Angeles and Orange counties, approximately where the county line intersects the Orange Freeway (SR-57) . Part of the larger Brea-Olinda Oil Field , the property has been used for oil operations dating back to
825-509: The plant after environmental mitigation measures, including habitat protection for several endangered species living in the vicinity, including the San Joaquin kit fox . In 2008, the company operating the plant refunded $ 85.7 million to the State of California in a claim lingering from the time of the 2000–2001 California Energy Crisis . Other cogeneration plants on the Midway-Sunset field include
858-635: The site of the Lakeview Gusher . While the Midway-Sunset field is a large contiguous area covering more than 30 square miles (80 km), it comprises 22 identifiable and separately-named reservoirs in six geologic formations, ranging in age from the Pleistocene Tulare Formation (the most recent geologically, the closest to the surface, and the first to be discovered), to the Temblor Formation , of Miocene age (the oldest, and one of
891-454: The surface of most of the oil operations areas on the property, consolidating the remaining oil operations to two sites totaling about 20 acres (81,000 m ). A lawsuit, filed October 2001, alleged Aera Energy allowed 600 million barrels of oil wastewater to seep into the subsurface aquifers of the Starrh Farms after putting oil drilling waste into a mile of unlined percolation ponds near
924-663: The towns of Taft , Maricopa , and Fellows are built directly on the oil field. Other oil fields along Route 33 going northwest within Kern County include the Cymric Oil Field , McKittrick Oil Field , and the large South Belridge Oil Field . Route 33 is not the only public road through the field: roughly paralleling 33, but closer to the Temblor Range, is Midoil Road, which winds through the field and along its southwestern boundary. The road commences from Taft Heights , passes through Fellows, and joins Mocal Road, which passes through
957-476: Was awarded a NAME Award. Aera is the first oil exploration and production company to win the award previously given only to manufacturing organizations. In 2011 Aera's development team was awarded the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) Manufacturing Excellence Award. Aera is the first energy company to receive the award. Aera Energy is depicted as "Shore Oil" in the 2019 American film, The Devil Has
990-472: Was discovered in 1894, and through the end of 2023 had produced close to 4 billion barrels (640,000,000 m) of oil. At the end of 2008 its estimated reserves amounted to approximately 532 million barrels (84,600,000 m), 18% of California's estimated total. The oil field runs southeast to northwest, with a length of approximately 20 miles (30 km) and a width of 3 to 4 miles (5 to 6 km), from east of Maricopa to south of McKittrick , paralleling
1023-478: Was eclipsed spectacularly the next year, when drillers found the Lakeview Pool, unexpectedly drilling into a reservoir of oil under intense pressure, later estimated at approximately 1,300 psi (9.0 MPa) from the heights attained by the spewing oil. The resulting Lakeview Gusher was the longest-lasting and most productive oil gusher in U.S. history. Drillers continued to find new oil reservoirs throughout
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1056-557: Was found liable and ordered to pay $ 9 million. Aera Energy is also involved in a legal tussle with the state of California over its de facto ban on fracking , an oil field extraction technique. In 2021, Aera filed a lawsuit against the state after it denied 49 of its fracking permit applications based on climate change concerns. In 2002 Aera's Belridge Producing Complex won the prestigious North American Maintenance Excellence (NAME) Award for its maintenance and reliability program and results. In 2004 Aera's North Midway Sunset Unit
1089-454: Was second at 9,689). A traveler along State Route 33 between Maricopa and McKittrick will see hundreds of pumpjacks , the relatively small proportion of the oil wells that are visible from the highway. Several enhanced oil recovery technologies have been employed at Midway-Sunset. Since the oil is heavy, and does not flow freely, it can be assisted by thermal methods, which include steamflooding, cyclic steam, and fire flooding . Waterflooding
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