Taylor Canyon Field and Government Pool of Morales Canyon Oil Field, San Luis Obispo County, California: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The Taylor Canyon field and the Government pool of the Morales Canyon oil field represent two northernmost producing fields of the Cuyama basin. The Government pool was discovered by Superior Oil Company in April 1950. The discovery well was the Government 18-2. The Taylor Canyon field was discovered in August 1950 by Hancock Oil Company. The discovery well was the Hancock-Bishop 44-1. Cumulative production in the Taylor Canyon Field is 486,000 bbl of oil and 141,000 mcf of gas from two wells. The field is now abandoned. Cumulative production in the government pool through December 1986, was 1,383,000 bbl of oil and 1,272,000 mcf of gas from seven wells. One well was producing at the end of 1986. The geology of both fields is extremely complicated both stratigraphically and structurally. The Taylor Canyon field produces from basal Miocene (Soda Lake) sands and conglomerates and possibly an older sand, referred to as the Turritella variata sand. The Government pool produces from the basal Miocene and Turritella variata sands and fractured granitic rocks. It is possible one or two wells in the Government pool may be producing from the Dibblee sand. Both fields produce beneath the White Rock thrust. The basal Miocenemore » sands are definitely older than the producing Colgrove sand of the nearby Russell Ranch oil field. The trapping mechanism in both fields appears to be permeability variations and faulting on a gently bowing east-plunging nose. The producing zones lie on Cretaceous strata in the Taylor Canyon field and both Cretaceous and granitic basement in the Government pool.« less