The US independent oil company Venoco filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the US Delaware Court and will sell off its assets during the process of liquidation. The company will cease all the operations, including decommissioning its South Ellwood field in Santa Barbara Channel, as well as Platform Holly off the coast of Goleta and processing plant near Haskell’s Beach. The assets of the company will be sold or wound down during the process of the bankruptcy. All of Venoco’s employees will be laid-off from the company workforce due to decommissioning of the operation, but the Boasr of Directors hope that they can be hired by the companies that purchase their operations.

“Today’s filing is the result of unfortunate circumstances impacting the company’s financial strength, including the ongoing closure of Plains All American Pipeline’s Line 901:”, said the COO of Venoco, Mike Wracher. “We have pursued a number of market-based and regulatory solutions to address these challenges during the last year. Despite these considerable efforts, our financial position now compels us to take this action”, added he.

On Monday, Venoco quitclaimed its interests in Platform Holly and the Goleta Beach Pier leases which would end commercial oil and gas production within state waters. The company operated field with capacity of 85.1 million barrels recoverable oil.

Venoco, is a private American oil and gas exploration and production corporation. It maintains an office in Carpinteria, California, and its corporate headquarters are in Denver. Predominantly active in California, it is a large natural gas producer in the Sacramento Valley and produces oil and gas both onshore and offshore of southern and central California.