Release Date: January 11, 2008

Contact:

Deputy District Attorney Laurel McWaters

(805) 662-1709

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten today announced that a final judgment and permanent injunction has been obtained in a civil environmental protection case against Vintage Production, LLC and Occidental Oil and Gas Holding Corporation. Vintage is a Delaware corporation which owns and operates several crude oil and natural gas producing properties in Ventura County . Occidental Oil and Gas Holding Corporation is a California corporation and a parent corporation of Vintage. The case was based upon investigations conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game.

The civil complaint filed by the District Attorney alleged that Vintage placed petroleum, or a residuary product of petroleum, where it could pass into the waters of the State and that it allowed petroleum and a residuary product of petroleum to pass into the waters of the State. Specifically, the complaint alleges that 16 separate spills occurred at Vintage facilities between November 25, 2005, and February 6, 2007, in violation of Fish and Game Code section 5650. Petroleum or residuals of petroleum reached streams or rivers during each incident.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Vintage and Occidental agreed to a final judgment and permanent injunction which requires the payment of civil penalties in the amount of $150,000, half of which shall be distributed to the Ventura County Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund, and half of which shall be deposited into the California Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The companies are also required to pay investigative costs incurred by the Department of Fish and Game in the amount of $109,248 for responding to and investigating the spills, and natural resource damages in the amount of $98,640. The final judgment contains a permanent injunction which prohibits Vintage and Occidental from violating Fish and Game Code section 5650 in the future and requires the companies to install a leak detection system on various lines on the Grubb Lease, at a minimum cost of $150,000, no later than October 31, 2008.