Venoco, Inc., Venoco Corporation, or Venoco, is a private American oil and gas exploration and production corporation. It maintains an office in Carpinteria, California, and its corporate headquarters are in Denver. Predominantly active in California, it is a large natural gas producer in the Sacramento Valley and produces oil and gas both onshore and offshore of southern and central California. The company has fields and prospects in Santa Barbara County, Monterey County, Kern County, San Luis Obispo County, and Ventura County. Venoco owns and operates the Santa Clara Avenue Oil Field in Ventura County as well as the South Ellwood Oil Field offshore of Santa Barbara, the Santa Clara Offshore Oil Field and the Sockeye Oil Field in the Santa Barbara Channel, west of Ventura.