Despite Gavin Newsom opposition, oil sales start from Santa Ynez

Sable Offshore officially commenced oil sales through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System Sunday, marking the first time the network has moved crude oil since a major spill idled operations over a decade ago.

Sable Chairman and CEO Jim Flores hailed the development as a win for US energy security.

“Sable is proud to announce oil sales through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System to Chevron,” he said. “In doing so, we are providing American oil from American soil through an American pipeline to an American refinery for American consumers and the United States military.”

The milestone comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom and the federal government remain locked in a high-stakes legal battle over whether the Trump administration overstepped its authority by using emergency powers to force the restart.

The company announced oil began flowing on March 29, with the pipeline successfully filled from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland Station at a rate exceeding 50,000 barrels per day.

The restart signals a significant step forward for domestic energy production in the region.

The company, formerly owned by ExxonMobil, had its oil platforms — Harmony, Heritage and Hondo —cease production in May 2015 following the Plains All American Pipeline Line 901 rupture, which spilled more than 140,000 gallons of crude along the Gaviota Coast.

The pipeline failure halted transport for the Santa Barbara County platforms, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Now, years later, Platform Harmony is producing around 22,000 barrels of oil per day. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has completed its final pre-restart inspection of Platform Heritage, clearing the way for operations to resume.

Production at Heritage is expected to begin immediately, with output projected to surpass 30,000 barrels per day, according to Sable’s press release.

Sable also outlined plans to bring Platform Hondo online by the end of the second quarter of 2026, adding an anticipated 10,000 barrels per day to overall production capacity.

Earlier this month, the company announced it was resuming operations after the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to force the restart of Sable Offshore Corp.’s California pipeline, bypassing certain state environmental and safety restrictions.

The order directed the company to resume operations of the Santa Ynez Unit.

In response, California filed a lawsuit challenging the order, arguing it “illegally asserts exclusive jurisdiction over two California onshore oil pipelines” and prioritizes “donors over our people and communities.”

“The Attorney General is seeking to halt Sable’s unlawful restart of California’s onshore oil pipelines that are subject to state regulation and oversight,” Rob Bonta’s office told the California Post.

While the lawsuit is ongoing, oil and petroleum giant Chevron is already purchasing Sable’s oil.

This also comes amid an oil shortage in the US, especially in California, where the state appears to be more severely affected by the war in Iran and its subsequent impact on global oil flows.

Chevron also has issued a stark warning to Californians, urging Newsom to declare a state of emergency amid high gas prices, declining oil production, and increasing strain on drivers.

“California has had, I think, very poor energy policy,” Chevron executive Andy Walz told The New York Times. “They’ve put a climate agenda ahead of reliable and affordable energy, and the consequences of that are that energy in California — any form of it — is unaffordable.”

California is seeing gas prices soar well above the US average.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the Golden State reached $5.77 Monday about $1.20 more than a month prior, according to the American Automobile Association. The national average stood at $3.9.

The Post has reached out to the governor’s office for comment, as well as the attorney general, as oil flows again through California waters for the first time while the lawsuit remains pending in court.

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