Back in May, I told y'all about a Texas oil company that had rebuilt three oil platforms off the California coast, repaired and updated a previously blown-out oil pipeline, and was close to being able to pump that black gold back onshore for the first time in over a decade.
As I said at the time, the concept was as foreign as seeing a tyrannosaur wandering casually down Wilshire Boulevard.
...On May 15, 2025, the U.S. company initiated the flow of oil production from six wells on the Harmony platform of the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) to Las Flores Canyon (LFC) at a rate of around 6,000 barrels of oil per day. Before this, the firm tested wells on the platform throughout May 2025, which performed consistently stronger than at the shut-in on May 19, 2015, when the SYU produced approximately 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Furthermore, about 30% of the 32 producing wells at the platform have been tested as of May 18, 2025, with the remaining wells projected to be tested over the next several days. Sable expects to initiate production from the additional 44 wells on the Heritage platform and the additional 26 wells on the Hondo platform in July 2025 and August 2025, respectively.
Sable Offshore, the oil company that now owned what, at the time of the rupture, had formerly been three Exxon-Mobil platforms and the Plains All American Pipeline they utilized, anticipated having the other platforms up, running, and pumping by this past summer.
Ah, but we're talking 'California.' So you know, while fairytales may come true at Disneyland just down the road from Santa Ynez, for oil businesses in that state, the dreams now come to die.
And it sure looked like another case of DOA as soon as the governor, the state, and the enviro-whackos got a load of what Sable had done and was in the middle of doing.
The fact that the state is headed into a self-inflicted energy emergency made no difference whatsoever when the loons saw the bats**t crazy symbol go up - they launched an immediate all-out attack on the Sable operations.
In October, at the same time that the Santa Barbara District Attorney filed felony criminal charges against the company for pollution, a judge in San Francisco sided with the cultists and issued an injunction against Sable, blocking the restart of the Santa Ynez pipeline.
Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC) -25.4% post-market Tuesday after a California judge sided with the state government and tentatively ruled against the company's request to restart a pipeline that pulls crude from the Santa Ynez offshore oil project, Reuters reported.
Sable's entire business model is built around this pipeline-platform rejuvenation plan, so they weren't taking it sitting down, and now they also had a fossil fuel-friendly administration willing to go to bat for them. The company filed a counterlawsuit against the state, asking for $347M in damages due to the delays, and said as much, telling the state to suck a stone over the pipeline. Sure, it would have been nice to have it, and Sable thought California would benefit from the oil being brought in to what few refineries they had left.
But no skin off their noses if CA chose to act like a spoiled princess who found a pea under the mattress. They'd turn off the pipeline and transfer to oil tankers directly from the platform. See, the beauty of it is that California has a claim to the first three miles of ocean water offshore. The Sable platforms sit anywhere from five to ten miles offshore, conveniently, in federal waters.
Naturally, the Trump administration was more than happy to help them out with permission to set up for direct filling of the tankers.
In a remarkable turnabout, it seems an ocean fill-up won't be necessary afterall.
Leftists in California just lost a battle in their war on affordable energy 🛢️💰
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) January 1, 2026
Oil production at the Las Flores Pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara is MOVING FORWARD.
It’s time to DRILL, BABY, DRILL and bring down high energy prices!https://t.co/EYYzcerb23
It's almost like Christmas sometimes when things actually work out the right way.
The Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration just gave Sable Offshore Corp. a Christmas present: Sable can begin pumping oil from its three platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., after a federal appeals court allowed the restart of a contested pipeline, Bloomberg Law reported.
“Environmental groups lost their bid at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to stay enforcement of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s emergency special permit for the Las Flores Pipeline System,” Bloomberg reported.
“The order is the latest win for the Santa Ynez oil operation that has been battered with lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny since Exxon Mobil Corp. handed over the reins to Sable 10 years ago.”
Energy News reports on this important news:
Sable’s Las Flores Pipeline System is off the Santa Barbara coast. The decision, handed down by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration allows the company to resume operations on the notorious Lines 901 and 903—pipelines shuttered since the 2015 Refugio oil spill that dumped thousands of barrels of crude into the Pacific Ocean.
This green light comes amid ongoing lawsuits from environmental groups and pushback from state regulators, who argue the restart prioritizes profits over safety.
The timing couldn’t be more charged. California is grappling with a self-inflicted energy squeeze as major refineries shutter, slashing the state’s refining capacity by an estimated 17-20%. But can Sable’s revived pipeline inject enough crude to stem the tide, or is this a symbolic win in a state hell-bent on phasing out oil? Let’s break it down, from the pipeline’s throughput to its ripple effects on refineries, investors, and everyday consumers.
It doesn't mean the fight is over for Sable, either - oh, not by a long shot. It's not over with the cultists and not certainly with the state, which are all looking to completely stymie a drop of oil from flowing.
...Additionally, the Environmental Defense Center noted when announcing its lawsuit last week that the passage of SB 237, signed into law in September of this year, would require Sable Offshore to request a coastal development permit among other steps from state regulators to conduct any, "Repair, reactivation, and maintenance of an oil and gas facility, including an oil pipeline, that has been idled, inactive, or out of service for five years or more".
Those specifications only apply to plans to restart pipelines part of the Santa Ynez Unit.
With Wednesday's court decision, it appears as though the Santa Ynez Unit is poised to officially restart production, satisfy its financial deadline with ExxonMobil, and potentially avoid additional state regulation.
"Rushing to restart this failed pipeline without following basic federal safety laws and without even making the necessary repairs poses an immediate threat to lives, property, and the environment across a large part of our state," explained the Environmental Defense Center's Chief Counsel Linda Krop, one of the petitioners in the Dec. 24 lawsuit. "We can’t allow the Trump administration and Sable to undermine California law and gamble with the safety of everyone living along the pipeline route."
The day before the decision to transfer regulatory authority, the County of Santa Barbara's Board of Supervisors officially voted to not transfer permits associated with Sable's restart plans.
The permit transfer decision isn't the only roadblock Sable Offshore has faced as part of its restart plans at the Santa Ynez Unit:
- Lease Violation: Public claims in May to have restarted oil production already may have violated leases issued by the California State Lands Commission
- Civil Charges: The California Attorney General filed civil charges over alleged violations of state environmental laws while Sable and its subsidiaries were conducting pipeline work
- Criminal Charges: The Santa Barbara County District Attorney filed criminal charges including five felony charges of knowingly discharging a pollutant into local waterways between at least October 2024 and April of 2025, 16 misdemeanor charges of obstructing a streambed, and improper actions concerning materials considered dangerous to local wildlife
"Sable also lacks a necessary easement from State Parks to operate the pipeline in Gaviota State Park, and it lacks required permits to operate from Santa Barbara County," added the Environmental Defense Center when reached for comment Wednesday. "If Sable turns on this pipeline, the company will be in violation of the law and EDC will do everything it can to reverse the restart and protect public safety and the environment. It is critical that the State and Santa Barbara County step up to enforce laws protecting the environment, public health and safety, and a transparent public process."
They fully intend to strangle it with old and new regulations, permits, and denied easements until it chokes.
If I were Sable and knew everything was ready to roll?
I'd have already flipped the switch.
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