Trio Petroleum halts McCool Ranch operations

Trio Petroleum halts McCool Ranch operations, shifts focus to more viable assets. (Image: Trio Petroleum)

Trio Petroleum Corp. has suspended operations at its McCool Ranch oil project and will no longer pursue a working interest in the property, the company announced, citing economic challenges specific to the California operating environment.

Trio said the decision stems from high natural gas prices and elevated water disposal costs, particularly in California, which have rendered the project’s planned cyclic-steam operations economically unfeasible in the long run.

“We have made this determination because... it makes it cost prohibitive for the company to employ cyclic-steam operations to increase production,” Trio said in a statement. “The company has decided to focus its efforts on other sites which it believes will be more economically feasible, and hopefully generate greater profits.”

The company had acquired an approximate 22% working interest in McCool Ranch in October 2023 through work commitment expenditures. The field is located in Monterey County, about seven miles north of Trio’s South Salinas Project, which remains its flagship asset in the state.

Trio had undertaken extensive efforts to restart McCool Ranch, which was idled in 2015 due to oil prices falling below $30 per barrel. Prior to suspension, the company had made notable progress: it refurbished and tested the field’s water disposal well (San Ardo WD-1), returned a critical steam boiler to service with minimal repair costs, and advanced equipment and facility testing that had been dormant since 2018.

Peak oil production from the site’s six wells previously reached about 400 barrels per day. Trio had planned to bring two of the wells—58X-23 and HH-1-ST2—back online initially using cold production, followed by cyclic-steam methods.

The McCool Ranch site includes a range of production infrastructure: four horizontal wells, two vertical wells, a water-disposal well, a freshwater well, a steam generator, three 5,000-barrel tanks, a 250-barrel test tank, water softener units, steam and oil pipelines, and more. The area is fully permitted for oil and gas operations, including steam injection and water disposal.

Despite the promising setup and the upside potential of drilling up to 25 additional wells, Trio concluded that the current economic conditions in California undercut the project’s viability. The company has not disclosed which assets will receive redirected attention or capital, but its portfolio also includes projects in Utah and Saskatchewan.

Trio Petroleum is an oil and gas exploration and development firm focused on high-potential domestic and international energy plays.