Approximately 27 percent of California Resources Corporation’s (CRC) estimated proved reserves as of year-end 2022 were located in the Los Angeles Basin. Our operations in the Los Angeles Basin presently include conventional primary, improved oil recovery and enhanced oil recovery projects. We have a leading mineral acreage position within the Los Angeles Basin with approximately 29,000 net mineral acres, approximately half of which we hold in fee, and over 50 percent of the Basin’s production comes from the fields we operate.
The Los Angeles Basin is a northwest-trending plain about 50 miles long and 20 miles wide on the coast of Southern California containing Miocene through Pleistocene sediments. The basin has great structural relief and complexity in relation to its geologic youth and is noted for a century of abundant oil production. The Los Angeles Basin’s prolific source rocks, thick sandstone reservoirs and large anticlinal traps are considered a nearly ideal petroleum system. As a result, the Los Angeles Basin has one of the highest concentrations per acre of crude oil in the world with 68 fields in an area of about 450 square miles. These accumulations of fine-grained sediments with high organic content, interlayered with coarser grained sands, contributed to the formation of large deposits of oil, including the Wilmington Field where we have significant operations. The Los Angeles Basin contains multiple stacked formations throughout its depths, and we believe that it provides a considerable inventory of existing field re-development opportunities, as well as new play discovery potential.
CRC’s operations in Long Beach and Huntington Beach are located in unique coastal ecosystems. CRC’s longstanding habitat conservation programs at the THUMS Islands in the Wilmington Field are certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council. CRC also partners with local environmental organizations and government agencies to preserve and protect these coastal resources.