Venoco, Inc. was a company engaged in

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods ...

. It primarily operated in the

Monterey Formation The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geology, geological sedimentary formation in California, with outcrops of the formation in parts of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shor ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In 2017, the company filed

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and was liquidated.

History

The company was founded in September 1992 by Timothy Marquez. In 2005, the company sold Big Mineral Creek field for $45 million. In November 2006, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In 2007, the company acquired the West Montalvo Oil Field from Berry Petroleum Company for $63 million; it was sold in 2014 to California Resources Corporation for $200 million. In 2011, the company spent $100 million to develop wells in the

. In 2012, the company became a

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

after Timothy Marquez acquired the 49% of the company that he did not own. In 2015, the Refugio oil spill resulted in the closure of a pipeline upon which the company depended; as a result production was reduced by 50%. In March 2016, the company filed

. On April 17, 2017, Venoco filed

again and began liquidation. At that time, the company was owned by affiliates of

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

. On January 4, 2018, the company relinquished 5 federal oil and gas leases offshore

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Fracking controversy

In 2011, a group of concerned citizens opposed Venoco's fracking operations in the

. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors initially cited Venoco for fracking without a permit, but later withdrew the claim. The site of the test wells was in a valley adjacent to two wine-producing regions, Santa Ynez Valley AVA and Santa Maria Valley AVA. In the Salinas basin, in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is ...

, Venoco encountered opposition by environmental groups and concerned citizens over 9 proposed wells. Among the components listed in Venoco's proposed fracking fluid for Monterey County was a

gelling agent In polymer chemistry, gelation (gel transition) is the formation of a gel from a system with polymers. Branched polymers can form Cross-link, links between the chains, which lead to progressively larger polymers. As the linking continues, larger ...

with a 60 to 70% concentration of "petroleum distillate blend." The exact mixture was unknown as it is proprietary to manufacturer

Baker Hughes Baker Hughes Company is an American global energy technology company co-headquartered in Houston, Texas and London, UK. As one of the world's largest oil field services, industrial and energy technology companies, it provides products and serv ...

References

{{Reflist, 1 1992 establishments in Colorado 2017 disestablishments in Colorado American companies established in 1992 Defunct companies based in Colorado Defunct oil companies of the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2017