Operations & Properties

The Company owns and operates projects in the Santa Maria Basin, located in Northern Santa Barbara County, where oil operations have been conducted since 1888.

Santa Maria Energy is focused on the exploration and development of crude oil from two exceptional oil resources:

• Monterey Shale
• Diatomite

PHOTO: Exposed Monterey Shale on CA's Central Coast Shore

The Monterey formation extends along the entire Central Coast of California, including the Santa Maria Basin. It is high in naturally occurring petroleum source materials. Despite being produced commercially and prolifically since the latter half of the 19th century, recoveries expressed as a percentage of the total oil in place have been relatively modest to date, meaning immense quantities of oil are yet to be recovered. Technological advancements in the oil industry are now available to reach significant quantities of oil from this proven resource in an economically feasible and environmentally sound manner.

For 100 plus years, it has been known that oil-bearing Diatomite exists in California, including the Santa Maria Basin. The resource is truly significant with estimates running as high as 20 billion barrels in California.

Diatomite is formed from the skeletons of countless prehistoric marine microorganisms called diatoms, Diatomite is a reservoir rock found at shallow depths, generally 2,200 feet or less.

Diatomite has two very important characteristics making it a tremendous oil resource: high porosity and high oil saturations. In combination, these often equate to high concentrations of oil.

Low permeability is third characteristic that made complicated the task of finding an environmentally acceptable and commercially feasible method of producing this rich resource. However, in the mid-1990s, thermal recovery techniques were put into use; techniques that have subsequently been proven successful. Through the use of steam injection, the challenges presented by the low permeability have been overcome.