The state's order was issued late Friday by Jason Marshall, the new acting head of the state's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. The directive came the day after Gov. Gavin Newsom fired DOGGR chief Ken Harris after reports of a dramatic increase in agency permits for fracking and allegations that some agency officials own stock in the companies they're regulating.

The Kern County releases, which began May 10, had prompted DOGGR to serve San Ramon-based Chevron with a notice of violation and an order to halt some oil extraction work in the area immediately surrounding the incident.

Friday's order calls for further steps. Regulators ordered the company to completely halt the flow of oil and water -- a phenomenon called a "surface expression" -- and head off new releases.

"The supervisor is requiring the operator, among other things, to take all measures to stop flow from the established surface expressions near the subject well and prevent any new surface expressions," the order states.

The agency also said that Chevron had not done enough to stop the releases.

"The division has determined that operator has had a continuous and interconnected series of surface expressions on its property that are not 'low-energy seeps' where, based upon the supervisor's information and belief, operator has not yet done everything that is necessary to prevent future occurrences," the agency's order said.

“Chevron takes these matters seriously," the company said in a Saturday statement. "We will review the order and continue working in a collaborative manner with the involved agencies.