Overview
The recent growth in unconventional oil production from the Bakken (North Dakota), Eagle Ford (Texas) and other tight oil plays has drawn attention to the potential of shale in California’s Monterey Formation. Commercial oil production from the Monterey Formation is not new-more than a billion barrels of oil and four trillion cubic feet of gas have been produced from it since 1977, largely from conventional reservoirs. However, completion techniques like hydraulic fracturing which have made tight oil production possible from shale deposits elsewhere have not yet been widely implemented in the shale source rocks of the Monterey Formation.
In 2013, PSE Healthy Energy co-founder J. David Hughes published DRILLING CALIFORNIA. The book provides empirical analysis of oil production data from the Monterey Formation in California, including geological properties, current production, production potential, and associated environmental issues in the region.