Chevron (as operator for its partners, Phillips, Union Pacific Resources, and Impkemix) discovered the Point Arguello oil field in 1981. The discovery well, the Chevron et al. P 0316 #1, was drilled in federal waters 8.5 mi (13.7 km) south of Point Arguello, California. Delineation drilling (by both Chevron arid Texaco) has confirmed the discovery of a giant oil field with estimated recoverable reserves in excess of 300 million bbl of oil.

The oil field is located within a small depocenter at the southern edge of the offshore Santa Maria basin. This local depocenter may contain over 15,000 ft (4600 m) of Neogene rocks. The Point Arguello accumulation is trapped in a large north-northwest-trending anticlinal complex and is part of an anticlinal trend of similar Monterey oil discoveries and producing fields within the offshore Santa Maria basin.

The primary reservoir is the middle and upper Miocene Monterey Formation, composed of fractured cherts, porcelanites, siliceous mudstones, and dolostones. Calculated fracture permeabilities range up to 3 darcys. Crestal wells have productive capabilities, after acid, of approximately 6000 BOPD.

Three production platforms have been installed, and connected by oil and gas pipelines to onshore treatment facilities capable of handling 100,000 BOPD and 60 MMCFGD. Thirty-nine

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development wells have been drilled. Initial production was scheduled for late 1987; however, permitting delays stalled production from this giant oil field until May 1991.