The new owner of ExxonMobil’s southern Santa Barbara County offshore oil platforms wants to restart operations this year.
Sable Offshore Corp. formed Wednesday and purchased ExxonMobil’s Santa Ynez Unit assets, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The merger creating Sable Offshore Corp. and the sale were first announced in 2022. The Santa Ynez Unit sale includes three offshore platforms, the Las Flores Canyon processing facility on the Gaviota Coast, and the pipeline that ruptured and caused the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
After the spill, ExxonMobil had to shut down production without an operating pipeline to transport oil to refineries (along with Venoco and Freeport-McMoRan).
Getting approval to operate the pipeline again has been the sticking point, since the county denied ExxonMobil’s request to truck oil instead. (ExxonMobil dropped the lawsuit challenging the decision this week, coinciding with the sale to Sable Offshore Corp., the Environmental Defense Center reported.)
The pipeline owners — Plains All American, then ExxonMobil subsidiary Pacific Pipeline Co. — asked Santa Barbara County for approval to install safety valves to meet new state requirements for operating.
Assembly Bill 864, passed in response to the Refugio oil spill, requires pipeline operators in coastal zones to use the “best available technology to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife.”
After county supervisors failed to take action on the project last August, the owners submitted an alternative plan to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which, if approved, puts them one step closer to restarting.
The alternative coastal best available technology (CBAT) plan submitted to the Office of the State Fire Marshal “includes incremental monitoring, plugging and maintenance,” according to a Sable Offshore Corp. investors report filed with the SEC in December.
The company anticipates state approval for a plan in the first quarter of 2024, according to that same report. It aims to do restaffing and contracting for several months and have a target restart date of July.
“Sable Offshore Corp. is going to do it right!” chairman and CEO Jim Flores said in a statement to Noozhawk on Friday.
Flores leads the management team and previously worked at FreePort-McMoRan and Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP).
“Our proven track record of responsible operations in Santa Barbara County at Point Arguello and Point Pedernales fields over the past couple of decades reflects our commitment to safe, reliable operations at SYU,” Flores said.
“We will be local by hiring all of the former employees currently posted at SYU as well several former employees from our PXP days that still live in and around Santa Barbara County. Being a local Santa Barbara employer, Sable Offshore Corp. is going to be a very active community member to be involved and support many local efforts to make Santa Barbara County a better place to live and work for everyone,” he said.
State Pipeline Plan Review Underway
“The Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Pipeline Safety Division is still reviewing the alternative CBAT plan and is unsure when such a plan will be approved or denied,” Deputy State Fire Marshal Kara Garrett told Noozhawk this week.
Details are considered confidential until a decision is made, so the OSFM can’t comment on what’s in the plan, Garrett said.
It’s unclear whether the plan includes the same measures as the proposal submitted to the county last year, including the 16 safety valves.
Santa Barbara County is not consulted as part of OSFM’s CBAT plan review, said Katie Nall, a county planner with the energy and minerals division.
“Once the state approves a plan, then the applicant would come to the county with said plan and apply for the land use entitlement it requires,” Nall said.
If the alternative CBAT plan is approved, the company would have to submit a restart plan, which the OSFM also reviews.
“Prior to potential restart, the owner must have an approved CBAT plan, be in compliance with the Consent Decree, and meet all other safety requirements deemed necessary by our office,” Garrett said. “Without these three components complete the pipeline cannot restart.”
ExxonMobil representative Lauren Knight confirmed Wednesday’s sale of the Santa Ynez Unit and associated assets to Sable Offshore Corp. and referred questions about the pipeline status to Sable Offshore Corp.
