Huntington Beach Operations

The Huntington Beach Unit of Aera Energy LLC produces approximately 5,500 barrels of oil per day from both onshore wells and wells on Platform Emmy. The Unit also produces approximately 4,000 mcf of natural gas per day.

Aera’s onshore oil and gas operations cover 1300 acres, extending northwest along Pacific Coast Highway from Golden West Street to the company’s leases in the Bolsa Chica area. Aera also operates Platform Emmy, located in State waters 1.3 miles off Huntington Beach.

The crude oil and gas produced by the Unit is processed onsite, including oil and gas produced by Platform Emmy. These processing facilities consist of tanks and other equipment that separate water and other impurities from the produced oil and gas.

Treated crude oil is sold to Chevron at the Unit and transported to refineries in the Los Angeles area. Natural gas is sold and transferred to Southern California Gas Company. The produced water is treated, cleaned and safely re-injected into the subsurface oil reservoirs.

Aera’s Huntington Beach operations are regulated by a number of federal, state, and local agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Division of oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, the California State Lands Commission, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the Huntington Beach Fire Department.

The Past and Future of the Huntington Beach Unit
Aera and its predecessors have operated the Huntington Beach Unit since 1986 when its leases were acquired from Phillips Petroleum. Owners of the land are the State of California and Aera. While some of the oil production in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands is being phased out as part of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Restoration Project, oil and gas production in the Huntington Beach Unit is expected to continue for decades.

Aera in the Huntington Beach Community
Aera and employees assigned to Huntington Beach are active members of the local community. The company is a longtime member of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce. Among the local organizations which Aera supports are the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation, Huntington Beach Library Patrons Foundation, Huntington Beach Union High School District Educational Enrichment Foundation, Orange County’s United Way, Project Self Sufficiency, and the West Orange YMCA. Through its Partnership A.E.R.A. program (Achieving Excellence Rewarding Academics), Aera partners with the Huntington Beach Education Foundation to provide mini-grants to local teachers.