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ABSTRACT: Discovery and Delineation of the Point Arguello Field: Giant Reserves in a Fractured Reservoir

William E. Mero

Chevron (as operator for its partners, Phillips, Union Pacific Resources, and Impkemix) discovered the Point Arguello oil field in 1981. The discovery well, the Chevron et al. P-0316-1, was drilled in federal waters 8.5 mi (13.7 km) south of Point Arguello, California. Delineation drilling (by both Chevron and Texaco) has confirmed the discovery of a giant oil field with estimated recoverable reserves in excess of 300 million bbl of oil.

The oil field is located within a small depocenter at the southern edge of the offshore Santa Maria basin. This local depocenter may contain over 15,000 ft (4600 m) of Neogene rocks. The Point Arguello accumulation is trapped in a large north-northwest-trending anticlinal complex and is part of an anticlinal trend of similar Monterey oil discoveries and producing fields within the offshore Santa Maria basin.

The primary reservoir is the middle and upper Miocene Monterey Formation, and is composed of fractured cherts, porcellanites, siliceous mudstones, and dolostones. Calculated fracture permeabilities range up to 3 d. Crestal wells have indicated productivities, after acid, of approximately 6000 BOPD.

Three production platforms have been installed and onshore treatment facilities built.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91000©1990 AAPG Conference-Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade 1978-1988 Conference, Stavanger, Norway, September 9-12, 1990