Old oil well under Poets Park Ladera Ranch short filled at 351 ft during 2001 re-abandonment DOGGR required cement squeezed past blockage to protect

Old deep drilled Exxon Mobil oil well under what became Poets Park Ladera Ranch short filled at 351 feet during re-abandonment 2001 due to blockage, DOGGR directive required cement to be squeezed past the blockage on outside of casing down to bottom of oil well to protect the lower 8365 feet, report indicates they did not do this! DMB Ladera LLC kept their dirty little secret covered up for 25 years of the poorly re-capped oil wells, until now.

Paul Frost engineer and rep for DOGGR was at Poets Park Ladera Ranch CA job site from 9:30 am to 10:30 am on July 19, 2001. Tom Walker an independent petroleum consultant and senior reservoir engineer in California was working as the rep for DMB Ladera Ranch and was overseeing the re-abandonment project on July 19, 2001.

The deep drilled oil well at 8,365 feet in 1961 under what became Poets Park at Ladera Ranch CA was short filled at 351 during a re-abandonment in July 2001. An obstruction was found at 351 feet drillers could not get past the obstruction. Paul Frost engineer for DOGGR and the project rep Tom Walker for DMB Ladea LLC called DOGGR home office from the job site at 10:30 am and got verbal approval to plug at 351 feet and back-fill. Did DOGGR home office know houses were going to be built over this old oil well location?

When submitting the final the DMB Ladera LLC report, Paul Frost the engineer for DOGGR used the 1961 plugging figures of 593 feet and 1305 feet in his report to California Division of Oil and Gas along with the new plug at 351 feet, is this legal? This is likely to be illegal and non-compliant under California regulations enforced by the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) (formerly the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources).

The DOGGR deputy Paul Frost could got a verbal approval to cease drilling, but the verbal directive from DOGGR home office would sound like this: "Stop trying to mill past 351 feet. However, you must attempt to squeeze cement past the blockage to protect the lower zones to 8,365 feet. Then, place a 100-foot cement plug on top of the obstruction, place your standard surface plug/cap, and back-fill. We will document this change in a subsequent field report." It does not show on the report that an attempt to squeeze cement past the blockage with cement to protect the lower zones down to 8,365 feet was done. They did place your standard surface plug/cap, and back-fill. 

See this video above for the proper way to plug a deep drilled abandoned well. The drillers for DMB Ladera LLC did not follow this correct procedure, they did not re-plugged all the way to the bottom and at intervals up to the surface of the old Exxon oil well under Poets Park at Ladera Ranch CA, this well oil well is at risk. DMB Ladera drillers only plugged the 8,365 ft deep Exxon oil well at 351 feet to the surface, way, way short in July 2001!

The prospect of additional delays and expense to squeeze cement past the blockage at 351 feet and down to the bottom of the well at 8,365 fet would not have set well with the boss or bosses at DMB Ladera Ranch. All off this additional oil well re-abandonment work would be very time consuming, up to 3 weeks and at additional costs of up to $400,000, not what DMB Ladera LLC could or would tolerate right in the middle of their $100 million dollar construction project in July 2001. 

The Legality of Verbal Approval DOGGR operations in July 2001 routinely relied on verbal approvals via telephone to handle unforeseen downhole complications. The Process: If a rig encountered un-drillable junk or a casing collapse (an "obstruction") at 351 feet, the onsite engineer or project representative would call the local DOGGR District Office. 

The Mandate: While a verbal "OK" was permitted to alter operations dynamically, regulations required that this oral instruction be officially documented afterward. DOGGR would issue a formal Report on Operations (Form P&A / Form 110) or an amended Report on Proposed Operations (P-Report) detailing exactly what was discussed, what was authorized, and why the original plan was changed.

2. The Regulation on Obstructions ("Junk in Hole") A project representative could not simply request to walk away and place a shallow cap. A deep 1961 well drilled to 8,365 feet exposes open oil/gas formations and fresh groundwater tables deeper down. Capping it at 351 feet without isolating those zones creates a major environmental hazard. (14 CCR § 1723)

Under 14 CCR § 1723(f) ("Junk in Hole"), the rules explicitly dictated: Diligent Effort: The operator had to prove they made a rigorous attempt to fish, mill, or drill past the obstruction. (14 CCR § 1723).

*Down-Squeezing Requirement: If the obstruction could not be cleared, the DOGGR engineer would typically require the operator to attempt to "down-squeeze" cement under pressure. The goal was to force cement through or past the junk to isolate the open wellbore below. (14 CCR § 1723)

The DOGGR deputy Paul Frost could get a verbal approval from DOGGR home office to cease drilling, but the verbal directive would sound like this: "Stop trying to mill past 351 feet. However, you must attempt to squeeze cement past the blockage to protect the lower zones. Then, place a 100-foot cement plug on top of the obstruction, place your standard surface plug/cap, and backfill. We will document this change in a subsequent field report." 

It does not show on the report that an attempt to squeeze cement past the blockage at 351 feet to protect the lower zones down to 8,365 feet was done, they did place your standard surface plug/cap, and back-fill.

Falsifying or Misleading Official Reports: Under California law, submitting an inaccurate or intentionally misleading report to a regulatory agency is illegal. If the representative reported historical plugs as if they were verified or sufficient for the current re-abandonment without explicit approval, it constitutes a serious violation.

Failure to Meet Modern Re-abandonment Standards: Under California Public Resources Code (PRC) § 3208.1, re-abandonment requires wells to be brought up to modern integrity standards. Merely leaving an unverified obstruction at 351 feet and relying on 1961 historical data for the deeper intervals does not satisfy modern environmental and groundwater safety protections.

Mandatory Obstruction Protocols: When an obstruction is encountered during a re-abandonment operation, California regulations (14 CCR § 1723) require the operator to notify DOGGR now CalGEM, they did do this. The operator must typically drill out, clear, or wash past the obstruction to verify lower wellbore conditions. If clearing it is physically impossible, explicit variance/approval from CalGEM must be granted before a short-fill plug can be accepted as the final surface plug. If the project representative submitted the report without CalGEM's specific authorization to stop at 351 feet, the consequences are severe:

Civil Penalties: CalGEM can issue significant daily fines for non-compliance and improper reporting. Order to Re-Plug: The state will/could likely issue an enforcement order forcing the operator to return to the site, drill out the 351-foot plug, clear the obstruction, and properly isolate the deeper zones. Criminal Liability: Knowingly submitting false data or concealing the failure to properly re-abandon lower depths can result in criminal fraud charges for the individual representative and the operating entity.

A single surface-level plug at 351 feet at Poets Park Ladera Ranch CA leaves the bottom 8,000+ feet completely open, allowing deep hydrocarbons, pressurized gases, and toxic brine to travel upward and escape laterally into shallow drinking aquifers. California State guidelines specify that when an obstruction is encountered, it must be cleared, clean-drilled, or "fished out" so the underlying intervals can be cemented and isolated. If it cannot be cleared, the state requires specialized remedial measures (like "squeezing" cement under high pressure around the obstruction) rather than simply giving up and pouring a shallow plug. 

Sarasota Private Investigator Bill Warner, True Crime Stories, Bill Warner Investigations Sarasota Fl.