California has a long history of oil and gas exploration and production with well established infrastructure and working environment. However, business is conducted in a different manner than onshore Australia. Most mineral rights are held by individuals and not obtained from government bodies. Companies wishing to drill and produce, seek leases from the mineral rights owners then seek permits from the government regulatory bodies and are obligated to make public limited data. Seismic is proprietary and interpretations of drilling results and prospectivity are not lodged with the government but held privately. The result is that most wells are drilled with only part of the prospective acreage under licence to the exploring company and therefore the active company keeps the detail seen in Australian releases to a lower level. Even when the full land picture is achieved there is a competitive advantage to secure ‘look alike’ prospects on nearby acreage.
