The Los Angeles basin has an enviable record as a petroliferous area and exhibits geologic conditions that promise its continuation as an oil province. More than 97 percent of the recorded production has been from lower Pliocene and upper Miocene sedimentary rocks and from the principal basinal area that received large quantities of clastic sediments and organic materials during late Miocene and early Pliocene time. Accumulations discovered and developed to date have been controlled chiefly by structural conditions.

It seems probable that future discoveries within the Los Angeles basin also will be related chiefly to, and derived from, sedimentary rocks of late Miocene and Pliocene age. Approximately 4 billion bbl of undiscovered oil is believed to be present within Area 16. Political and economic considerations created by a continuing increase in population density will have a great effect on all exploratory drilling and development programs.