Sable Offshore said it had begun pumping oil on a long-disputed pipeline system linking the Santa Ynez offshore platform to California refineries after emergency orders from the Trump administration directing the restart.
- Federal Intervention: Using the Defense Production Act, the Trump administration issued emergency orders to bypass California state laws and restart the Santa Ynez pipeline system, which has been dormant since a 2015 oil spill.
- Production Timeline: Sable Offshore began pumping on March 14 and expects to reach 50,000 barrels per day by April 1, with plans to ramp up to full capacity and restart all offshore units by June 2026.
- Political Conflict: The move has sparked a sharp legal and political clash, with the Energy Department citing global supply risks and military needs, while Governor Gavin Newsom has denounced the federal orders as "illegal" and "reckless."
The restart marks a major win for the Houston-based oil company in its years-long battle with California regulators and environmental groups, which have sued to stop the Santa Ynez project. Santa Ynez had been shut since 2015 due to an oil spill from the pipelines that Sable has now restarted.
The matter is among the slew of conflicts between U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to increase domestic fuel production, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has championed his state's climate change policies and is among Trump's most high-profile critics.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright directed Sable to start pipeline flows from Santa Ynez on Friday, using powers granted to him by Trump under an executive order invoking the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to supersede state laws.
Wright's order, issued as fuel prices surge across the globe due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, aims "to address supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil," the Energy Department said in a statement on Friday.
Sable complied with the order and began shipping hydrocarbons from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland Station on March 14 while observing federal safety regulators, the company said. It expects first sales of the oil by April 1 at an expected rate of 50,000 barrels per day.
Sable's pipelines can ship up to 200,000 bpd of oil and it had accumulated 540,000 barrels of processed crude oil in storage after it restarted one of the Santa Ynez platforms last year. It expects to ramp up production and restart the remaining two units by June 2026, it said.
In a statement on Friday, Newsom called the Trump emergency orders "desperate, reckless, and illegal".
He argued that the oil from the Sable Offshore pipeline would not lower oil prices. Even in California, Sable's initial sale rate of 50,000 bpd marks about 3% of total oil refining capacity in the state as of the end of last year, U.S. government data showed.
Like this news? Make BIC Magazine a Google preferred news source.
Despite the pipeline's restart, California is still seeking ways to block the project. The state's Department of Parks and Recreation on Saturday demanded that Sable immediately remove a portion of its pipeline crossing Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County.
Sable sued the state parks department on Friday, requesting declaratory relief to confirm its rights under the Defense Production Act, and the company is pursuing all financing options, including federal credit support, it said in a statement.
