La Goleta Gas Field
| Company type | Subsidiary facility |
|---|---|
| Industry | Natural gas production and storage |
| Founded | 1929 |
| Headquarters | Santa Barbara County, California , United States |
| Products | Natural gas production; natural gas storage |
| Parent | Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), a subsidiary of Sempra Energy |
The La Goleta Gas Field—also referred to as the Goleta Gas Field or La Goleta Storage Field—is a natural gas field situated in unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California, immediately adjacent to the city of Goleta. Discovered in 1929 and commencing production in 1932, it has produced close to 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas. As output diminished over time, the field was repurposed into a gas storage facility in 1941. By 2016, it remained one of four underground storage sites managed by Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, alongside Aliso Canyon, Honor Rancho, and Playa del Rey. Ranking as the oldest and third largest among these, La Goleta boasts a maximum storage capacity of 21.5 billion cubic feet.
These storage locations play a vital role in regulating supply for more than ten million customers served by SoCalGas: natural gas is injected during periods of low demand, typically summer, and withdrawn during the high-demand winter months. La Goleta specifically services the northern segment of SoCalGas’s distribution network.
In 2013, operations at La Goleta included 19 active gas extraction wells alongside two observation wells. Subsequent to an Environmental Impact Report and obtaining county approval, SoCalGas installed four additional production wells between 2014 and 2015. These new wells were drilled to access deeper geological formations beneath the existing reservoir at approximately 4,000 feet depth.
Geographic setting
Positioned along the coastline near Goleta, California, the field’s western boundary lies within land owned by the University of California, Santa Barbara. Gas wells are located north of the east entrance roundabout on campus grounds. The field extends eastward beneath the narrow isthmus of the Goleta Slough, passing under Mescalitan Island—where well sites coexist with the Goleta Sewage Treatment Plant—continuing beneath Goleta Beach County Park, and reaching a blufftop at the western edge of coastal low hills that stretch through More Mesa toward Hope Ranch. The primary gas processing plant and recent expansions occupy a 147.4-acre blufftop parcel owned by SoCalGas, discreetly concealed by terrain elevation and dense tree coverage. Operations remain out of view from the nearby beach due to steep coastal bluffs.
Surrounding land uses predominantly consist of agricultural fields and recreational areas, intersected by California Highway 217 which connects UCSB to US Highway 101. Within the gas field’s vicinity lie protected wetland environments and critical wildlife habitats associated with the Goleta Slough and Atascadero Creek. A mobile home community borders the northern perimeter near Ward Drive.
The area experiences a Mediterranean climate characterized by warm summers and mild winters accompanied by seasonal rainfall; precipitation levels are notably low from April through October. Drainage from the site flows either directly to the Pacific Ocean via runoff over coastal bluffs or into Atascadero Creek and Goleta Slough. Stormwater generated by the processing facility is treated prior to its discharge into Atascadero Creek.
Geology
The gas field is situated within an anticline geological structure, bounded on its northern side by the More Ranch Fault. Surface rock formations comprise primarily the Monterey Formation, which is overlain by impermeable shale belonging to the Rincon Formation. The main productive reservoir lies beneath this shale cap within the Vaqueros Formation, a sandstone layer located at roughly 4,000 feet below ground level. Underneath the Vaqueros Formation are either red sandstone and conglomerate units of the Sespe Formation, which historically contained minor gas accumulations that were not commercially viable, or an "Eocene-age" formation targeted during recent drilling efforts as part of a 2014 initiative aimed at enhancing field productivity.
History and operations
During the 1920s, California experienced a surge in oil exploration, accompanied by a rising preference for natural gas over manufactured gas. In this region, the substantial Ellwood Oil Field and the smaller Mesa Oil Field were identified. In 1929, an exploratory well at La Goleta encountered a high-pressure gas reservoir approximately 4,500 feet below the surface, yielding gas at a rate of 60 million cubic feet daily. General Petroleum Corp. conducted redrilling efforts in 1932, which led to the start of production. The field reached its maximum output in 1934; however, the reservoir's capacity diminished quickly and was depleted by the late 1930s, having produced a cumulative total of 14 billion cubic feet by 1937.
Interest in the field declined until World War II, when demand for natural gas surged. Pacific Lighting Gas (which later became SoCalGas) transformed La Goleta into a storage site by repressurizing the reservoir and constructing a compressor station to manage fluctuations in seasonal gas consumption.
In the early 21st century, SoCalGas proposed enhancements to increase the field's capacity and improve management of seasonal demand variations. This initiative included drilling four additional wells targeting a deeper sandstone reservoir from the Eocene epoch located beneath the Vaqueros Formation. After completing environmental assessments and gathering public feedback, Santa Barbara County granted approval for the project in 2013, with drilling and facility improvements beginning in 2014.
Presently, pipelines extending approximately connect the wells to processing, storage, and transmission infrastructure. This network facilitates withdrawals of up to 400 million cubic feet of natural gas daily.