It is the end of an oil and gas era off the Goleta coastline. In late August, the State Lands Commission (SLC), in partnership with ExxonMobil, completed the permanent plugging and abandonment of Platform Holly’s 30 oil and gas wells, located about two miles offshore of the City of Goleta. This represents a milestone in California’s legacy of oil and gas development because these were the last remaining offshore production wells associated with a platform in state waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, the birthplace of offshore oil production. 

The SLC staff hosted the monthly South Ellwood Project interagency group meeting on September 3 to discuss Platform Holly decommissioning and remediation. All the South Ellwood Field wells are now plugged and remediated, the conductors are cut and were removed on September 4, and final plugging and abandonment is imminent. Platform hardening is also underway and includes equipment and hydrocarbon removal, installation of navigation safety devices, and disincentivizing trespassing with security gates and cameras. In all, the hydrogen sulfide risk at Platform Holly is remediated and the ability to extract oil and gas from the platform is eliminated.

There is more to come as the SLC works on an environmental document addressing the final disposition of the platform. For the latest information, go to https://www.slc.ca.gov/oil-and-gas/southellwood/.

Photo: Platform Holly courtesy of the State Lands Commission