Los Angeles

Commentary

State politics remain a significant headwind, with urban drilling setbacks and California's restrictive permitting (the 2025 SB 237 relief applies only to Kern County). Federal policy is supportive, but there is unlikely to be a renaissance in exploration. Outlook: Negative.

Updated

October 4, 2026

Location

Description

Located in coastal southern California, the LAB's key feature is a Neogene basin whose foundations were controlled by Cretaceous subduction and Late Cretaceous Paleogene terrane accretion. Neogene structural development consisted of mid-Miocene to early Pliocene extension, strike-slip faulting and problematic block rotation, and late Pliocene to present north-south compression. The province is bounded on the north by the Malibu-Santa Monica-Hollywood-Raymond Hill-Duarte Fault System, and on the east and southeast by the onlap of marine rocks on the Southern California Batholith and Santa Ana Mountains and San Joaquin Hills Uplifts.

Summary

The most recent significant discoveries occurred during the early to mid-1960's. While exploration drilling has been hampered by urbanization and drilling bans, meaning that drilling has averaged <2wells per year, the LAB is considered widely explored.