California: Ventura shallow heavy oil drilling planned

Sefton Resources Inc., Denver, said its TEG Oil and Gas USA Inc. unit will begin drilling four new wells in mid-November from existing pads in Tapia heavy oil field in the eastern Ventura basin in Los Angeles County, Calif.

Alan Petzet

Nov. 4, 2011

The field produces 18° gravity crude from Quaternary Yule sand at 1,100 ft. Sefton is seeking to increase production to 240 b/d in early 2012. Oil production in October from the company’s Tapia and Eureka fields averaged 129 b/d.

Original oil in place at Tapia is estimated at 11 million bbl. A consulting engineer is finalizing an interim report on continued steamflooding and cyclic steaming. Sefton believes full steaming could boost the recovery factor to 60-70% from 50%.

Sefton noted that Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Vintage Production subsidiary has moved in a rig to drill a third well at Wayside Canyon oil field just east of Tapia field.

About the Author

Alan Petzet

Chief Editor Exploration

Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.

Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.