The nation's largest urban oil field, surrounded by businesses and tens of thousands of Los Angeles County residents, could have new drilling curtailed in the coming years in a move that would hold potential for major redevelopment.

Los Angeles County’s regional planning commission meets Aug. 16 to discuss amendments that would end new oil drilling in the county portion of the roughly 1,000-acre Inglewood Oil Field, according to county documents.

The meeting also could cover the labeling of current drilling as "nonconforming," a move that would require it under county law to be discontinued and removed from the site within 20 years of its status change. These are discussions only and would require county approval at a later date.

The end of drilling at Inglewood Oil Field, in operation now for nearly a century, would be the most visible effort to stop oil and gas extraction in America's largest county by population. The demise of drilling also could open a major redevelopment opportunity in one of the nation's densest areas. For perspective, one of the largest undeveloped sites in the city of Los Angeles now up for sale is 21 times smaller than the Inglewood Oil Field.

There are 819 active and idle wells within L.A. County boundaries of the Inglewood Oil Field, according to county documents.

A smaller, 78-acre portion of the oil field is located in next door Culver City, which is working to phase out oil operations. The city has made "substantial progress" on a settlement agreement with Inglewood Oil Field owner Sentinel Peak Resources, according to the city's website.

Sentinel Peak Resources didn't respond to an emailed request to comment from CoStar News. The company said on its website that the Inglewood Oil Field "continues to be a steady source of domestic oil and natural gas and is one of the most productive oil fields in the entire L.A. Basin."

Roughly 50% of the field's oil resources remain in place in producing zones that can be readily accessed, according to the company's website.

"These resources will continue to ensure that the Inglewood Oil Field supplies Southern California’s refineries with oil for decades to come, offsetting their need to import supplies from South America and the Middle East," according to the company's website.

The county's discussions arrive after the city of Los Angeles approved an ordinance in December to ban drilling new oil and gas wells and to phase out current operations by 2042. Greater Los Angeles is dotted with thousands of current and former oil and gas drilling operations, in addition to properties used to support fossil fuel extraction, near homes, schools, the Los Angeles International Airport and sites sought after for redevelopment.

Before it became a major international city, Los Angeles was a drilling boomtown in the early 20th century because of its abundance of oil and gas resources.

That said, oil production has fallen in California in response to local and statewide laws passed in recent years aimed at curtailing drilling. In July, seven new active well permits in the state of California had been approved, less than the 200 that had been issued in the same time the year earlier, according to Reuters. California historically is among the nation's largest oil-producing states.

As drilling has decreased, oil and gas extraction sites have made way for redevelopment projects in greater Los Angeles over the years. In December 2020, Sentinel Peak Resources sold 120 acres in Montebello, east of downtown Los Angeles, for $190 million to homebuilders Lennar and Toll Brothers. The property is being converted into 1,200 single-family homes.

Nicole Shih contributed to this story.