California Oil and Gas Report

The California Chamber of Commerce is preparing to appeal a ruling by the Sacramento Superior Court in favor of the state’s Air Resources Board’s cap-and-trade auction.

Judge Timothy M. Frawley on Nov. 12 denied requests filed by the Chamber and the Pacific Legal Foundation to block the auctions. They had argued that the money collected via the auctions amounted to an unlawful tax, and that the ARB’s auctions were not authorized in the language of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB 32. Continue reading →

The Los Angeles Basin, which has been the focus of intense oil and gas development activity for more than a century, still has a robust future, according to participants in a day-long conference hosted by the University of Southern California.

The November 12 forum was sponsored by the USC Energy Institute, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey.

A report distributed by the USGS estimates that 1.4 to 5.6 billion barrels of additional recoverable oil remain in 10 Los Angeles Basin fields analyzed by the agency’s staff, with a mean estimate of 3.2 billion barrels.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on Oct. 29 to oppose the plan by the City of Whittier and Matrix Oil Co. to drill on publicly owned parkland in the Whittier Hills.

The unanimous vote followed a lengthy public meeting that included a number of emotional statements by opponents of the proposed drilling project. “Oil and open space don’t mix,” Supervisor Gloria Molina told The Los Angeles Times after the meeting.

The city and Santa Barbara-based Matrix Oil said the vote had little significance. They noted that the proposed project is already the subject of litigation. “The courts have jurisdiction over this matter, not the county,” said Whittier Mayor Bob Henderson. Continue reading →