Oil & gas wells in Kern County, CA
156,849 catalogued wells in Kern County, California, from the state regulator registry and the federal orphaned-well inventory.
Dataset updated . Derived from public data sources.
At a glance
Kern County, California has 156,849 catalogued oil & gas wells: 41,135 active (26%), 85,113 plugged & abandoned (54%) and 425 documented orphans. It ranks 1st of the 39 California counties WellCensus profiles by well count and holds 65% of the state's 242,471 catalogued wells.
Catalogued wells
156,849
Active
41,135
Plugged
85,113
Documented orphans
425
What is the status of oil and gas wells in Kern County?
26% of Kern County's wells are active, 4 percentage points above the California share of 22%. 54% are plugged & abandoned, against 60% statewide and 47% nationally. 19,986 wells (13%) are shut-in — unplugged but idle. 425 wells (0.3%) are documented orphans with no operator able to plug them, compared with 1% across California and 4% nationally. The remaining 10,190 carry status codes outside those classes, such as permitted or cancelled locations.
What kinds of wells are in Kern County?
By product class, 111,527 of the county's wells (71%) are oil wells, 493 (0.3%) gas wells and 20,575 (13%) injection wells. Statewide the oil share is 68% and the gas share 3%. 100% of the county's wells carry coordinates and appear on the map.
How does Kern County compare with other California counties?
Kern County has the most catalogued wells of the 39 California counties with at least 25. The median California county on WellCensus has 675 wells. By documented orphans it ranks 2nd in California.
Who operates wells in Kern County?
2,374 distinct operators of record are linked to wells in Kern County. 100% of the county's wells carry a link to a canonical operator profile; the rest list no operator or a name not yet resolved. Each well's page names its operator where the state publishes one.
Wells in Kern County
🔒 Create a free account to export CSV| Well | API # / state ID | Status | Type | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Clair 3128A-2 | 04-030-39190 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Belridge 3130-11 | 04-030-22004 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Sebu T 3130-12 | 04-030-65100 | Active | Other type | Aera Energy LLC |
| Unspecified 516Z2-18 | 04-030-51275 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Dtr 516zr-34 | 04-030-44671 | Active | Injection | Aera Energy LLC |
| Lease by Aera Energy LLC 517P2-20 | 04-030-23370 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Kcl 14 | 04-029-00722 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | United Energy Inc. |
| Security-Midway 110 | 04-029-01457 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Seale 5 5 | 04-029-04637 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Mona P. Cook |
| Kelley - Buchner 3 | 04-029-12307 | Active | Oil | Hathaway LLC |
| Glide 1 | 04-029-12353 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Richard S. Rheem, Operator |
| Glide 25-4 | 04-029-12400 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Horace Steele |
| Ellis 55K-19 | 04-029-73099 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Dtr 562z-33 | 04-030-26409 | Active | Injection | Aera Energy LLC |
| Canfield 54 | 04-029-22683 | Active | Oil | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Revenue 12 | 04-029-30116 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Revenue 19 | 04-029-30123 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Wilson 11 | 04-029-30140 | Active | Oil | Chevron U.S.A. Inc. |
| Belridge I 7225K-2 | 04-030-63569 | Active | Oil | Aera Energy LLC |
| Intex-M.J.M.& M.-Socal-U.S.L. 37X-18 | 04-029-32142 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Tesoro Petroleum Corp. |
| Layman 36 | 04-029-35775 | Plugged & abandoned | Injection | California Resources Production Corporation |
| Dtr 731gu-29 | 04-030-46982 | Active | Injection | Aera Energy LLC |
| Beer 6 | 04-029-37580 | Plugged & abandoned | Other type | Amerada Hess Corp. |
| Brogdon 3 | 04-029-38894 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Berry Petroleum Company, LLC |
| Lease by O'Brien-Sill 1 | 04-029-38930 | Shut-in | Other type | O'Brien-Sill |
A sample of the county’s wells — every catalogued well has its own page. Browse all 156,849 in search → (filter by operator, status and type, then export), or find a specific well on the live map.
Frequently asked questions
How many oil and gas wells are in Kern County, CA?
Kern County, California has 156,849 catalogued oil & gas wells: 41,135 active, 85,113 plugged and 425 documented orphans.
How many orphaned wells are in Kern County?
425 wells in Kern County, California are documented orphans — unplugged with no solvent operator of record, the 2nd-highest count among California counties.
What share of wells in Kern County are plugged?
85,113 of Kern County's 156,849 catalogued wells (54%) are plugged & abandoned, compared with 60% across California.
Which California county has the most oil and gas wells?
Kern County has the most catalogued wells of any California county on WellCensus, with 156,849.
How many companies operate wells in Kern County?
2,374 distinct operators of record are linked to catalogued wells in Kern County, California.
Nearby in the California rankings
About this data
Source: CalGEM WellSTAR well registry, plus the USGS United States Documented Orphaned Well Database (2026, doi 10.5066/P13FHBYG), as published October 10, 2026 — WellCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: WellCensus, “Oil & gas wells in Kern County, California”, https://wellcensus.com/wells/california/kern (data as of October 10, 2026).