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Oil production to restart offshore of Santa Barbara County

January 2, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

Sable Offshore can now resume offshore oil production at all three of its platforms off the Santa Barbara County coastline, following a federal appeals court ruling on Wednesday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against request by environmental groups to stay enforcement of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s emergency special permit for the Las Flores Pipeline System.

In 2015, a pipe owned by Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, causing more than 100,000 gallons of oil to spill. About 21,000 gallons flowed into a culvert and then into a ditch that drains into the ocean.

The spill spread over 9 miles of mostly sandy beaches and led to the closure of the three offshore drilling platforms and the pipeline, which are now owned by Sable.

In May, Sable resumed oil production in federal waters offshore of Santa Barbara County. It started extracting oil from one of three platforms that had been closed since the 2015 spill.

The resumption of offshore oil production began just a month after the California Coastal Commission fined Sable $18 million and ordered a halt to their work for not obtaining necessary permits. The company disputes the Coastal Commission’s finding, arguing it has all the required permits for its operations.

Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have criticized the offshore oil production restart, citing risks to sensitive habits and species.

Sable Offshore had planned to restart oil production at all three of its Central Coast offshore facilities by the end of 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s energy dominance initiative. The goal of the initiative is to achieve U.S. energy independence and lower energy prices by expanding production and exports.

On July 23, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge issued a partial preliminary injunction ordering Sable to inform the court after it receives all necessary permits to begin operations of the Santa Ynez pipeline. Sable informed the court and environmental groups appealed.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied an emergency motion for a stay filed by the environmental groups.

Following the ruling, Sable Offshore’s stock rose 30% on Friday.

 


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Most excellent.


Now, which one of you NIMBY types are going to allow a refinery or 3 to process OUR much needed petroleum?


8

My dad died at 58 due to toxic work conditions at local oil fields; CHEVRON. Anyone here had to wipe their dads Butt as he cried begging not to die due to brain cancer from Exposure as a young man in his 20s and his young dad??? ANYONE?


-15

My condolences. However, my brother died of Leukemia, with no exposure to anything toxic. People die of weird things all the time, your Dad was one of them. Correlation, is not causation.


11

#PersonalResponsibility


-5

You totally made up that part about your dad dying from brain cancer caused by toxic oilfield work conditions. If true, you’d be wicked rich by now. And yeah, I’ve helped both my parents and several relatives at life’s end, and all that involves. It’s a privilege to do do, not something to beat your breast about. Man up.


12

And every other employee at those oil fields working alongside your father also died prematurely of similar causes???


7

I ain’t buying this sad story. I am however working diligently to increase the size of my carbon footprint.


6

I find it so hard to believe that even with the free public school that every one of us in this country is entitled to, there are still so many people who think that destroying an irreplaceable resource like our coastlines will magically grant us “cheap oil” and therefore lower fuel and essentials costs. It never really has, but a reliable handful always cheer for it, regardless. Having seen the oil industry, up close and personal, I can tell you that it never will. Allowing them to extract our limited natural resources, at the expense of our precious environment and our own clean-up responsibilities is never going to benefit us, or the rest of life on this planet, with the illusional exception of those who have chosen to profit directly from our stupidity.


-22

The Santa Barbara Channel has been smeared with crude oil, for the last 200 million years. The oil rigs are getting rid of some of that. Are you against slowing the every day natural seep of nearly 150 barrels onto the beaches and shore?


14

What location or irreplaceable resource along the precious Santa Barbara coastline was irreversibly destroyed by the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill? Sure, there was temporary environmental degradation, loss of wildlife and economic losses suffered, but can anyone point to that coastline today and say it has been forever destroyed? No, they can’t. Mother Nature is resilient and self-sustaining, and her ecosystems heal and are restored over time. The real permanent changes resulting from the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill are manifest in at least three ways: 1) the improved technology & safety protocols used in modern resource extraction by the oil industry, 2) enhanced government regulation & oversight through agencies such as the EPA, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and 3) the birth of environmental awareness and advocacy groups that grew out of that ugly/tragic/costly but temporary incident.


14

It’s either that or develop more nuclear power plants like Diablo Canyon, which has provided the State of California with safe, clean, and reliable energy since 1985.


32

Reality wins again!


24

My family used to be in the petroleum industry. I have a friend who’s family has been in it for nearly 90 years. They will all tell you that it is much more profitable to import oil. And imported oil is much higher quality.

The oil from California isn’t even good enough quality to refine for gasoline.

Firing up 3 platforms is barely enough petroleum to lube the bicycles of Cal Poly students this year.

The ruling simply gets all the dumb asses in a cave the energy to put their cheap cigarettes down long enough to hoot and holler slobber all over each other.


-23

Its a sick Industry and Cancer is SO COMMON. and anyone who disagrees is Fking Ignorant and has ZERO CLUE.


-25

Yes, American heavy crude is not really the best for gasoline. But diesel, Kerosene, bitumen, and about ten thousand other useful modern and lifesaving products that humans have come to depend on, can be made cheaper and easier than with light or sweet crude.


14

All the complaints about wind turbines. Now letting a negligent company re open; in an area that saw the worst oil spill in US history; promoting Dick Nixon to make the EPA, now resumes, Oh, How Ironic. Let the Asteroid hit us or the Space Aliens Zap us, Americans do not deserve this country, at all. Drill until it hits home and hurts you. A private company owns the rights to Oil, pretty Insane. That’s everyone’s oil, and Sable, Does a bad job at extraction. I pray for the workers and Leo’s safety.


-32

The Coal Oil Point reserve, naturally seeps up to 150 barrels of crude every day, all day, all year. While the spill in ’69 was terrible, science and technology have risen exponentially in the safety and reliability of offshore rigs. They are so safe, that the hundreds of oil rigs along the Goleta shore, from the airport to Hondo Point….are gone.


Oh, and private companies have always owned the mineral rights on their property. Just like YOU do on yours.


26

Correction: It’s not “everyone’s oil” if you can’t get it out of the ground. Private companies engage in competitive bidding with other companies to pay huge sums of money to the federal government for the marine mineral rights in managed offshore leases. Managed by the federal government on behalf of all Americans – that’s how it becomes “everyone’s oil”. Winning bidders earn the right to search for and possibly extract oil, if they find any at all.


Also, the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill is not the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Far larger spills were associated with oil tanker ships. The same kind of ships California will depend on to meet the state’s demand for oil and fuel after the closure of the Valero and Phillips 66 refineries this year. The largest spills of course are connected to the blowouts of exploratory wells (Deepwater Horizon, 2010, and Ixtoc1,1979) in the Gulf of North America, aka Gulf of Cartelexico.


4

That’s what I’m talking about.


0

Drill baby, Drill, Pump baby, Pump!


47

Agreed, but with the dismal business environment that Governor Newsom has created causing many refineries in the state to close or move, oil from these platforms will have to be sent out of the state.


35

Fantastic. Can you post a link proving this? Should be interesting read. Why they would draw from the ocean; then move low grade raw crude out the state.


0

Causes of Refinery Closures


Several factors have contributed to the decisions to close these refineries:

Regulatory Environment


California has implemented increasingly stringent regulations on refineries. In October 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed bill ABX2-1 into law, empowering the California Energy Commission to set minimum petroleum product inventory levels for refineries to address fuel price volatility[14].


This legislation was cited by Valero’s CEO Lane Riggs as part of “the most stringent and difficult” regulatory environment in North America[4].


Market Conditions


Phillips 66 specifically cited “evolving market conditions” in its closure announcement. California has experienced declining gasoline demand, with taxable gasoline sales decreasing from 15.6 billion barrels in 2017 to 13.6 billion barrels in 2023. The state’s push toward electrification and reduction of fossil fuel consumption has created uncertainty about long-term demand.


Operational Vulnerabilities


California’s refineries are particularly vulnerable to operational disruptions. As demonstrated by the February 2025 fire at PBF Energy’s Martinez refinery, unexpected incidents can quickly impact the state’s tight supply-demand balance. With limited refinery capacity, such disruptions have a disproportionately large impact on supply and prices.


From Lodi411.com


12

BOOM!


Nanny state.


#NEVERVoteDemoNcratAgain


Freedom OVER everything


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