II. PAST AND PRESENT OCS PRODUCTION 



GENERAL 



Offshore oil and gas production in California first began 

 in 1896. The wells were drilled from wooden piers along the 

 beach at Summerland , Santa Barbara County. In 1896-1975, more 

 than 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 1 billion Mcf (Mcf = 1,000 

 cubic feet) of natural gas have been produced from_ California 

 tidelands and the Outer Continental Shelf. Proven reserves 

 for production are estimated to be approximately 524,000,000 

 barrels of oil and 187,000,000 Mcf of natural gas. Gas pro- 

 duction from current fields peaked in 1968 and oil production 



peaked in 1969. Both are expected to decline in the near 



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 future despite secondary recovery techniques. 



A total of 248 exploratory wells and 3,127 development wells 

 have been drilled for oil and gas. As many as 200 production 

 wells may operate from a single artificial island. Production 

 from shore-based slant-drilled wells is usually charged to off- 

 shore production. Production is almost completely limited to 



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 the most southern counties. At present, the State Lands Com- 

 mission has leased a total of 136,294 acres of tidelands for 



oil and gas development, and the Department of the Interior 



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 has leased 1,082,848 acres of Federal OCS lands. 



