Santa Maria Energy

Santa Maria Energy, LLC, is an independent, private energy company committed to the responsible exploration and development of natural resources in Santa Barbara County, California. Headquartered in Santa Maria, California, all of our company's assets are located onshore in Santa Barbara County.

Originally, Santa Maria Energy concentrated upon a single resource: oil-bearing Diatomite. That focus existed because scientists have known for a hundred years that Diatomite can host very large amounts of oil. However, an economically and environmentally acceptable method of producing it had proven elusive until the mid 1990’s, when producing Diatomite by cyclic steaming began to prove commercial.

At that time, California's daily oil production was approximately 700,000 barrels and production from Diatomite contributed very few, if any, barrels to the total. In 2009, California's daily oil production was approximately 640,000 barrels and production from Diatomite contributed approximately 75,000 barrels. The potential exists for daily oil production from Diatomite to continue increasing in the coming years, perhaps dramatically.

It is also expected that California's daily oil production will increase because of renewed interest in the Monterey formation. The Monterey is the most prolific oil shale in the world and has produced billions of barrels of oil since the 19th Century. Consensus is developing in the U.S. oil industry that significant additional barrels will be produced on-shore in California from the prolific Monterey as newer and more sophisticated exploration, development and production technologies are applied. SMP agrees.

The Monterey extends along the entire Central Coast of California, including the Santa Maria Basin. As Santa Maria Energy has built its portfolio of Diatomite projects, Monterey opportunities have also been acquired, thereby diversifying our asset base.