Monterey Oil Shale May Be Next Oil Shale Play -- California

Link here.

California's Monterey shale oil play could become the next wave of U.S. exploration and production as high oil prices, and the sale of non-core assets by major oil and gas operators, has opened the door for smaller oil and gas companies to pursue the play.

Early last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated in its report, Review of Emerging Resources: U.S. Shale Gas and Shale Oil Plays, that the Monterey/Santos play in southern California holds 15.4 billion barrels of shale resources; the Bakken and Eagle Ford are the next largest shale oil plays at approximately 3.6 billion barrels and 3.4 billion barrels of oil respectively. The Monterey shale is the primary source rock for the conventional oil reservoirs found in the Santa Maria and San Joaquin basins in southern California.

As "we" all know, the Bakken probably holds appreciably more than 3.6 billion barrels of oil.

Two years ago when I was visiting California, I did not see a lot of oil activity. This year I see a lot of work over rigs, and I see a lot of older pumpers moving that weren't pumping two years ago.