Wilmington Oil Field
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The Wilmington Oil Field is a prolific petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States in terms of cumulative oil production.[1] The field runs roughly southeast to northwest through the Los Angeles Basin, stretching from the middle of San Pedro Bay through Long Beach and east of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The field originally contained approximately 3 billion barrels (480,000,000 m3) of reserves. In 2013, the USGS estimated future potential production from the combined Wilmington-Belmont oilfield could be around 900 million barrels (140,000,000 m3).
The offshore portion of the oil field is developed largely through wells drilled directionally from THUMS Islands, four artificial islands in Long Beach Harbor.[2]
California Resources Corporation currently operates the Wilmington Oil Field in partnership with the State of California and the City of Long Beach. CRC's Long Beach operations include:[3]
- THUMS Long Beach Company, which operates the offshore portion of the Wilmington Oil Field
- Tidelands Oil Production Company, which operates the onshore portion of the Wilmington Oil Field
- two additional smaller leases in the Long Beach area
Data
Estimations as of 2013 (based on reserve estimates in 2008[4] and extraction from succeeding years,[5] estimated through July).
- cumulative production: 2,750 million bbl (437 million m3)
- estimated reserves: 235 million bbl (37.4 million m3)
- annual production: 13 million bbl (2.1 million m3)
- producing wells: 1,428 (in 2008)
- estimated year of depletion (based on current rates and reserve estimates): 2031
A 2013 USGS report estimates that the Wilmington-Belmont oilfield had Original oil-in-place of between 7,600 to 12,000 million bbl (1,210 to 1,910 million m3) of oil, of which an additional 200 to 1,950 million bbl (32 to 310 million m3) could be produced, with 910 million bbl (145 million m3) their best estimate of future production potential. [6]
