Oxy oil discovery could spark new interest in California's energy potential

The biggest find in the state in 35 years, somewhere in Kern County, could herald new exploration in California and the U.S., experts say. But some worry it could lead to a false sense of security.

A few years ago, Occidental Petroleum Corp. executive Stephen I. Chazen sounded like a cryptologist out of a Dan Brown novel as he told investors that an oil bonanza awaited any outfit that could “crack the code” of California’s seismically fractured underground.

Occidental’s engineers may have done it.

The Westwood company revealed in July that it had found the equivalent of 150 million to 250 million barrels of oil and natural gas in an undisclosed part of Kern County using techniques that the oil company’s executives would rather not talk about. It was California’s biggest find in 35 years.

Some experts say it could herald a period of new exploration in California and the U.S.

LA Times