User:Adflatuss/Platform Holly

Platform Holly is an offshore oil platform in the Santa Barbara Channel in Santa Barbara County, California that has been decommissioned. Situated in 211 ft of water off the Gaviota Coast about 2 mi southwest of Coal Oil Point, it was built by ARCO in 1966. From the platform, they began drilling wells into the various zones in the South Ellwood Offshore field. Mobil operated Platform Holly until 1997, when Venoco acquired all rights to the field. Three pipelines – one oil, one gas, and one for utilities – connected the platform to the processing plant on the mainland. In addition, an oil pipeline transported oil from "tents" constructed over some of the natural seeps on the ocean floor to the processing plant.

The platform has been inactive since May 2015 when the Refugio Oil Spill ruptured the pipeline it relies on to transport oil to market. Venoco filed for bankruptcy, ownership of the platform reverted to the state, and the platform is being decommissioned. The California State Lands Commission began work to plug and abandon the well in 2019, with an estimated two to three years until completion.

Offshore oil and gas in California provides a significant portion of the state's petroleum production. State and federal, first

Studies of Southern California oil platforms show they have produced a slight increase on bocaccio rockfish population.