California API county codes

How to read a California API number

The first ten digits identify one well. Two more digits can follow for a sidetrack, and two after that for a later completion. The county is the one where the well starts at the surface, so a horizontal well that crosses a county line keeps its surface county's code. A few state regulators assign the producing county instead, so the state record is the final word on a well near a boundary.

All 59 California counties

County names are the US Census names for these codes. The API standard does not promise the two match, so we checked them against state well records. Across 35 states, where this table names a county it matched the one the agency recorded on 85,091 of 85,100 wells. Offshore state and federal waters use their own pseudo-county codes, which are not listed here.

Finding the well itself

The API number stops at the county. It does not hold the well's coordinates, lease, survey section or operator. Those sit in the well record, which you find by searching the full number in the state agency's system. In California that is the CalGEM Well Finder, run by the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM).

Frequently asked questions