Brea-Olinda Oil Field

The Brea-Olinda Oil Field is a large oil field in northern Orange County and Los Angeles County, California, along the southern edge of the Puente Hills, about four miles (6 km) northeast of Fullerton, and adjacent to the city of Brea.

[2] The Brea-Olinda field occupies a long, narrow band along and south of the Whittier Fault Zone, which forms the southern boundary of the Puente/Chino Hills in the inland Los Angeles Basin.

Dense urban and suburban development covers the area south and southwest of the Brea-Olinda field; to the north and northeast, the hills are relatively undeveloped.

Carbon Canyon Regional Park is adjacent to the field on the east, as is Chino Hills State Park; the Firestone Boy Scout Reservation occupies a large area in the hills northeast of the main productive area of the field.

Native vegetation in the hills includes coastal sage scrub, grasslands, oak/walnut woodland, and various riparian habitats.

[8] Sulfur content is low, and in the early days of the 20th century was the lowest of any oil produced in the state of California.

[11][12] Development of the field proceeded over the next three decades, with 105 wells being drilled by 1912 in the area of Brea Canyon, at the time of the survey by the state mineralogist.

Steamflooding of the Pliocene commenced in 1973, a method useful for decreasing viscosity of heavy oil and encouraging it to flow to pumping wells.