Ventura Avenue Oil Field, Ventura County California

ABSTRACT The Ventura Avenue oil field is located in Ventura County, California, about 212 miles north of the city of Ventura, in the Ventura River valley. This field has the reputation of being the most difficult field in California in which to complete a deep well. The topography of the field is very rough, embracing elevations from 100 to 1,100 feet. The Ventura anticline is 16 miles long with Ventura Avenue field at the center. The anticline plunges in both directions from the center of the field and is characterized by steep dips on the flanks, which range from 30° to 60°. Production comes from the Pico formation, of lower Pliocene age. The field has six oil zones, but practically all production comes from the deepest zone, the Lloyd, which claims the deepest commercial oil producer in the world, in the Associated Oil Company’s Lloyd No. 102. It was drilled to a depth of 7,210 feet, and had an initial production of .3.600 barrels per day. The Lloyd zone has a known thickness of 2,600 feet, with the bottom of the zone as yet not found. The Ventura Avenue field has at present (February. 1928) a production of 57,000 barrels per day of 20° to 30° gravity oil, from 113 wells. The field has produced, since its discovery in 1015. up to January 1. 1028, approximately 44 million barrels of oil and more than 130 billion cubic feet: of gas, yielding approximately one gallon of gasoline per thousand cubic feet of gas. and should ultimately produce 250 million barrels of oil and 600 billion cubic feet of gas.