Sable Offshore Corp. plans to restart oil production at all three of its offshore facilities near the Santa Barbara coast by the end of 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s Energy Dominance initiative.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Friday that Sable is aiming to restart production at Platform Heritage by October. Preproduction inspections are set to begin on Heritage soon, according to a press release.
The department said that restarting Heritage will generate an additional 10,000 barrels of oil per day. The press release did not indicate when the final platform, Hondo, will begin inspections or restart production.
“President Trump made it clear that American energy should come from American resources,” said Kenneth Stevens, the principal deputy director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
“Thanks to his leadership and Secretary Burgum’s commitment, we’ve turned a decade-long shutdown into a comeback story for Pacific production. In just months, BSEE helped bring oil back online safely and efficiently — right in our own backyard. That’s what Energy Dominance looks like: results, not delays.”
Platform Heritage is the second platform that Sable is planning to bring online. The company announced that it was restarting production on Platform Harmony on the 10th anniversary of the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
The Santa Ynez Unit, which includes the three offshore oil facilities and pipeline, was shut down after the pipeline ruptured and dumped 120,000 gallons of oil onto the Santa Barbara shoreline.
Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, criticized the announcement of the restart and called it “deeply concerning.”
“Time and time again, our community has experienced the acute dangers that come with Big Oil’s reckless extraction practices, which jeopardize our coastal ecosystems, public health and outdoor recreation economy,” Carbajal said.
“And let’s be clear: If energy independence were truly the goal, the current administration would be investing in cleaner — and often more affordable — energy sources like solar and wind, not gutting their federal support. Restarting these rigs only enriches Big Oil while sacrificing the Central Coast’s environmental and public health. I will continue working with state and local partners to fight back against efforts to expand offshore oil drilling on the Central Coast.”
Environmental Groups Join Permit Fight
In an unrelated matter, the Environmental Defense Center announced on Monday that a federal court permitted it to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Sable against Santa Barbara County over the transfer of oil facility permits.
The federal decision is not related to the offshore restarts and concerns permits for the pipeline that ruptured in the 2015 oil spill.
The EDC is citing a county ordinance from 2002 that requires oil companies to prove they can operate oil facilities safely and have the resources to clean up potential oil spills.
“The court’s decision gives the nonprofit groups a voice in the case, ensuring the court is able to hear environmental and community perspectives — not just those of the fossil fuel industry and the county,” said Alex Katz, executive director of the EDC.
The original lawsuit was filed by Sable after the transfer was stalled when the Board of Supervisors split the vote on the issue 2-2. Due to the split vote, the county did not transfer the permits as it tried to figure out how to proceed.
Sable challenged the decision, claiming that an earlier vote in favor of the transfer by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission should have approved the transfer.
The court sided with the EDC and other petitioners and said the groups “have a well-recognized interest in the conservation, use and enjoyment of the land related to this action, as shown in their declarations.”
The Environmental Defense Center also represents Get Oil Out! and the Sierra Club of Santa Barbara.
Sable has been working toward a restart of the Santa Ynez Unit and the pipeline that originally ruptured since 2022. Plains All-American Pipeline owned the pipeline at the time of the spill, and it later changed hands to ExxonMobil and then Sable in 2022.
Since Sable purchased the pipeline, local environmental groups have been working to prevent its restart. The Environmental Defense Center and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Sable.
Last Wednesday, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge issued a partial preliminary injunction against Sable, ordering it to inform the court when it has received all necessary permits to begin operations of the Santa Ynez pipeline.
Sable must then wait 10 days before it can activate the pipeline, during which the Center for Biological Diversity can appeal the decision to the court.