Sable Offshore Corp. announced Monday that it restarted production on Platform Harmony and transporting oil to refineries in response to President Donald Trump and the Department of Energy ordering the move under the Defense Production Act.
The Texas-based company has been attempting to restart the oil production facilities in Santa Barbara County for several years, including the offshore platforms and pipelines to transport oil to refineries.
Local governments, environmental groups and residents have consistently pushed back, often citing safety concerns about major spills.
One of the Sable pipelines is the one that ruptured and caused the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill under the previous owner, Plains All American Pipeline.
The Trump administration, invoking emergency powers with the Defense Production Act, prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to say the state would sue over the move, CalMatters reported.
Sable has resumed transporting oil stored at the Las Flores Canyon processing facility on the Gaviota Coast to Pentland Station in Kern County at the direction of the U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the company said in Securities and Exchange Commission filings Monday morning.
Trump and the Department of Energy issued orders Friday citing the Defense Production Act.
“Sable immediately complied with this federal DPA Order and began shipping hydrocarbons from LFC to Pentland Station on March 14, 2026, with federal safety regulators present in observance,” the company said in SEC filings.
Sable officials said in a press release that the company finished its pipeline anomaly repairs and hydrotested all segments of the transportation pipelines – which run from the Gaviota Coast west and then north through Santa Barbara County – as of May 2025.
The California Coastal Commission has fined the company $18 million, and there are several pending lawsuits regarding the onshore pipeline work in the Coastal Zone, which was allegedly done without appropriate permits.
Sable had about 540,000 barrels of processed crude oil in storage at Las Flores Canyon at the time of the order, the company said.
The company restarted production from six wells on Platform Harmony in May 2025 as a test, a move it announced on the 10th anniversary of the Refugio Oil Spill.
“Sable is currently producing hydrocarbons from its Platform Harmony at the SYU and our wells continue to perform as expected. Production ramp-up is anticipated to proceed with full production resumption at Platforms Harmony and Heritage this month, in March 2026, and Platform Hondo in June 2026,” the company said in a press release.
Sable plans to start its first sales by April 1, it said in SEC filings.
Trump amended a January 2025 executive order that said the United States had “insufficient energy production” that threatens national security, the economy and foreign policy.
The Santa Ynez Unit is a “critical energy resources on the West Coast” and it cannot be used “without reliable transport of SYU’s production through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System to market on mainland California,” according to a Department of Energy Pipeline Capacity Prioritization and Allocation Order cited in SEC documents.
“According to Sable, the State of California is impeding it from resuming transportation of (Santa Ynez Unit) production through the (pipeline system). As Sable reports, ‘California agencies have deployed an array of state measures—including SB 237, the state waiver process, novel interpretations of state agency jurisdiction and authority, excessive delay in granting a long-term easement through a state park for an existing pipeline, and the Restart Plan requirements under (a) Consent Decree—to block pipeline operations’” the order says.
There are multiple pending lawsuits regarding the pipeline repair work, permits, and overall restart.
There was widespread local opposition voiced at the news of the orders Friday and over the weekend.
“The Trump administration’s action attempts to exempt Sable from any state law that conflicts with Sable’s project,” Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense Center said in a statement Friday.
“Restarting a failed pipeline with no legal or regulatory guardrails puts Californians in harm’s way,” EDC Chief Counsel Linda Krop said. “Sable has shown repeatedly that it can’t be trusted to operate responsibly or even legally.
“In its short existence, Sable’s tactics have resulted in felony criminal charges, court injunctions, a record $18 million fine from the California Coastal Commission, and broad opposition across the state.
“Allowing this company to bypass any law that gets in its way poses a threat to the coast, to wildlife, to businesses, and to everyone living near the pipeline route.”
More statements in opposition were issued Monday, in response to the news of the restart.
“For the sake of the incredible Pacific ocean and all of its wildlife, the community has worked so hard to make sure we’d never see oil flowing through this defective pipeline again,” said Brady Bradshaw, senior oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is a dark day for California and I urge state officials to keep standing up to Trump’s bullying. We’ll keep fighting as hard as we can to protect Santa Barbara’s coast and end offshore drilling in the state once and for all.”
This is a developing story. Check back with Noozhawk for updates.
