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Posts Tagged ‘natural seeps’

Santa Barbara beach tar reminds us of Platform Holly’s environmental benefits

Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, seeps, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The cessation of production at Platform Holly 10 years ago has contributed to the periodic surges in natural seepage that soil Santa Barbara area beaches (see the Instagram post above).

The correlation between production at Platform Holly, which lies just offshore from the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and seepage in the Coal Oil Point area (map below) was apparent to those who worked at Holly. That association was confirmed by UCSB studies:

“Emeritus Professor James Boles collected and analyzed decades of data on methane seeping from the seafloor southeast of Platform Holly, just offshore from Isla Vista. He and colleagues Grant Garven at Tufts University and Chris Peltonen at Beacon West Energy Group determined that production of oil and natural gas from the platform reduced natural methane seepage into the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, confirming earlier regional studies. The findings appear in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology.“

This blog called Platform Holly a “net negative hydrocarbon polluter,“ because production from Holly reduced natural seepage and methane pollution from shallow formations beneath the Channel. Steel subsea pyramids (“tents”) installed by Arco in 1982 collected seafloor methane seepage, an added environmental benefit from the platform operations. As described in a 2014 presentation posted by the California State Lands Commission,“production at Platform Holly has resulted in significant improvement in local air quality.”

Further per UCSB:

After combing through 20 years of data, the authors found that production at Platform Holly significantly reduced the amount of methane seeping into the tents. For example, production from a well drilled 1 kilometer beneath the tents immediately reduced the natural seepage. In contrast, the seepage increased when production ceased from that well. “This indicates a direct link between the oil reservoir and the natural seepage in the area,” Boles noted.

Production at Holly ceased 10 years ago; the tents have been removed and the platform is being decommissioned. However, methane bubbles in the Channel and periodic beach tar will continue to remind us of Holly’s positive environmental legacy.

Map showing areas ( shaded ) of natural oil seeps offshore from Coal Oil Point near Santa Barbara, California. Inset map shows the Channel Islands ( I ) designated SM San Miguel, SR Santa Rosa, SC Santa Cruz, A Anacapa, SN San Nicholas, SB Santa Barbara, and SCL Santa Catalina. Seep fields were mapped between 1946 and 1973 (modified from Hornafius et al. 1999) 

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Decommissioning of Platform Holly – an underwater oasis and “negative polluter”

Posted in California, decommissioning, rigs-to-reefs, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Platform Holly in the Santa Barbara Channel

John Smith informs us that the California State Lands Commission (CSLC) is moving forward with the environmental review for decommissioning Platform Holly. This would be the first platform decommissioning project offshore California since the 1996 Chevron 4-H project which involved the removal of Platforms Hope, Heidi, Hilda and Hazel in state waters.

John comments that the project description, which calls for removing the jacket, seep tents and pipelines, and partially removing the upper 5 feet of the 23-foot-high shell mounds, does not make much sense given the abundant fish and invertebrates that reside on or around the platform jacket. Cutting the jacket off 85 feet below the water line and converting the remaining structure to an artificial reef would make more sense and should have been designated the proposed project. 

The plan is to send the materials to the Ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles or Hueneme or possibly Ensenada, Mexico. The project involves complex logistics and is going to be a very long (3 years), ambitious and expensive project that will likely set a precedent for future platform decommissioning projects.

It’s noteworthy that Platform Holly’s oil and gas production effectively reduced natural seepage and methane emissions from shallow formations beneath the Channel. Holly was thus a “net negative” hydrocarbon polluter.

According to their agreement with the CSLC, Exxon is responsible for the decommissioning costs.

Scientific American: The steel “jackets” that support California’s offshore oil platforms are covered in millions of organisms and provide habitat for thousands of fishes. Joe Platko

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Platform Holly story continues 9 years after production ceased

Posted in California, decommissioning, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Platform Holly, California State waters in the Santa Barbara Channel, formerly operated by Venoco

Platform Holly sits immediately offshore from the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara, and UCSB scientists have studied the platform and surrounding ecology extensively. Multiple studies have shown that production from Holly reduced natural seepage and methane pollution from shallow formations beneath the Channel. Platform Holly was thus a “net negative” hydrocarbon polluter.

The natural seepage in the Santa Barbara Channel was important to the earliest inhabitants of the area. The Chumash used the tar for binding and sealing purposes, including caulking their canoes. Since Holly shut down in 2015 following the Refugio pipeline spill, offshore workers and supply boat crews have reported a considerable increase in gas seepage.

Earlier this month, it was reported that well plugging operations at Holly had now been completed, but decisions regarding the final decommissioning of the platform remain.

Venoco declared bankruptcy in 2015 and the State of California became the platform owner. According to the State Lands Commission, Exxon will pay the costs for decommissioning the platform. This is because Exxon acquisition Mobil operated the platform from 1993-1997 before Venoco became owner.

The most recent Holly development is that Venoco has settled its law suit with Plains, the company responsible for the 2015 Refugio pipeline spill that halted production from Holly. Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

Note: As an aside, I’m curious as to whether Mobil provided a decommissioning guarantee as part of the sale to Venoco or whether the State is simply holding ExxonMobil accountable as a legacy owner. If it’s the latter, why isn’t bp (bp acquisition Arco was Holly’s operator from 1966-1993) also liable? Is it a matter of Mobil being the more recent predecessor owner?

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Huntington Beach sheen caused by natural source not platform spill

Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, oil spill response, tagged , , on March 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Test results came back from the Office of Spill Prevention and Response – part of the Department of Fish and Wildlife – indicating the natural oil source, said Richard Uranga, US Coast Guard public affairs specialist.

“From the first initial stages, they were tracking that from the samples,” he said. “The oil rig samples were not the same as the oil that was gathered from the oil sheen.”

LA Daily News

So why did the LA Times report shortly after the sheen was detected that it was not from natural causes, and attribute that finding to the Coast Guard? It was too soon for the lab results to be back. Was a platform spill the desired narrative?

Keep in mind that up to several hundred barrels of oil per day seep naturally into Southern California waters.

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Some perspective on offshore California oil spills

Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, seeps, tagged , , , , , on July 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Although we are still waiting for the report on the 2021 Huntington Beach pipeline spill, all evidence indicates that the spill was caused by a container ship anchor. Available information to date also suggests that the pipeline was well maintained and properly operated. The volume spilled and resulting damage was less than predicted. Nonetheless, some vocal opportunists took full advantage of the spill to further demonize offshore production.

One of our very savvy BOE readers shared data (attached) from Oil in the Sea III, a National Academies report that is the best source of information on oil inputs into US waters. The data for Southern California are presented below in 3 charts. The first chart shows that natural seeps are overwhelmingly the leading offshore source of oil entering SoCal waters, with offshore platforms and pipelines accounting for <0.5% of the oil.

The second and third charts exclude natural seepage and compare the coastal and offshore oil inputs from the other sources. When land based transportation inputs are included (chart 2), platforms and pipelines (combined) account for 5.3% of the oil.

Excluding natural seepage and land based transportation inputs (chart 3), recreation vessels are by far the leading source of oil (47.5%), with platforms and pipelines (combined) accounting for less than half that volume (22.2%).

These data add important perspective, but are not intended to discount platform and pipeline spills. These spills can have significant localized impacts, and every effort must be made to prevent their occurrence.

pacific-3Download

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Oiled Pelicans Found on Santa Barbara Beaches

Posted in seeps, tagged , , , , on July 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The oil is most likely from natural seeps, but the Coast Guard is investigating.  Link provided by Cheryl Anderson:

An MH-65 helicopter flew over the area Wednesday evening just before sunset but did not spot any spill or sheen, or any other oiled birds. Coast Guard officials tell KEY News they have contacted the owners of the oil platforms in the channel but none of them have reported a spill or had transferred any fuel or oil in the past day.

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