Rincon Oil Field

The Rincon Oil Field is a large oil field on the coast of southern California, about ten miles northwest of the city of Ventura, and about 20 miles east-southeast of the city of Santa Barbara. It is the westernmost onshore field in a series of three fields which follow the Ventura Anticline, an east-west trending feature paralleling the Transverse Ranges. Discovered in 1927, the oil field is ranked 36th in California by size of recoverable oil reserves, and while mostly depleted – now having, by California Department of Conservation estimates, only about 2.5% of its original oil – it remains productive, with 77 wells active at the beginning of 2008. Oil produced in the field flows through the M-143 pipeline, which parallels U.S. Highway 101 southeast to the Ventura Pump Station, at which point it joins a Tosco pipeline which carries it to Los Angeles area refineries. As of 2009, the primary operators of the field were Occidental Petroleum for the onshore portion, and Greka Energy for the offshore portion. The offshore part of the field is operated mainly from Rincon Island.

The field occupies a range of steep hills, loosely grouped with the Santa Ynez Mountains, which attain heights of over 2100 feet at Rincon Mountain and Red Mountain. Highway 101 occupies the narrow terrace at the base of the hills where they meet the Pacific Ocean. Drainage is by ephemeral streams directly into the ocean. The entire area is highly prone to landslides; in 2005, the adjacent unincorporated town of La Conchita was the site of a landslide that killed 10 people. During exceptionally rainy winters, Highway 101 can be cut by landslides.

Native vegetation consists of coastal sage scrub and chaparral. Climate in the area is Mediterranean, with cool rainy winters and mild summers, the heat being moderated by morning fog and low clouds. About 15 inches of rain fall each year, with slightly more at higher elevations

The Rincon Oil and Gas Processing Facility is adjacent to the oil field, on a hilltop which has been graded flat, about a mile east of Pitas Point. Rather than processing oil from the Rincon field, it receives and processes oil from the offshore Dos Cuadras and Carpinteria fields, feeding it into the M-143 pipeline which crosses through the Rincon field on the way to Ventura. A single massive 268,000 barrel tank, the feature of the plant visible at the greatest distance, stores oil from the Rincon field prior to shipping it through the pipeline.

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