Sable Offshore announces oil pipeline in production on tenth anniversary of Refugio Beach Oil Spill

On May 19 ten years ago, a corroded oil pipeline then owned by the Plains All American Pipeline corporation spilled over 140,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean at Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County in California.

The disaster resulted in the devastation of marine life, the closure of iconic beaches and a big economic impact on the recreation and fishing-based economy of Southern California.  

Now, on the exact anniversary of that spill, Sable Offshore, the oil company that now owns that failed pipeline and the offshore oil platforms that connect to it, announced that it has restarted the pipeline and the oil is flowing from one oil platform once again.

In a press release dated May 19, Sable announced that as of May 15, 2025, it “has restarted production at the Santa Ynez Unit (“SYU”) and has begun flowing oil production to Las Flores Canyon.”

“Additionally, with the completion of the Gaviota State Park anomaly repairs on the Las Flores Pipeline System (the “Onshore Pipeline”) on May 18, 2025, Sable has now completed its anomaly repair program on the Onshore Pipeline as specified by the Consent Decree, the governing document for the restart and operations of the Onshore Pipeline,” Sable stated.

“Seven of the eight sections of the Onshore Pipeline have been successfully hydrotested. Sable will complete the final hydrotest in order to meet the final operational condition to restart the Onshore Pipeline as outlined in the Consent Decree. Sable expects to fill the ~540,000 barrels of crude oil storage capacity at LFC by the middle of June 2025 and subsequently recommence oil sales in July 2025,” the corporation boasted. 

A large coalition of environmental justice and climate groups slammed the California State Parks for greenlighting the restart of oil production through the pipeline.

“This morning, Sable Offshore — the Texas-based company that bought the failed pipeline and is rushing to restart it without following California laws and regulations — announced they’ve restarted oil production off the coast of Santa Barbara,” an action alert from the Last Chance Alliance stated. “That’s right, one of the oil platforms that was shut down after the 2015 spill has been brought back from the dead on the anniversary of the spill.”

In April, Sable was fined $18 million by the California Coastal Commission for damaging sensitive ecosystems during unpermitted work — and yet, last week, State Parks granted the company a CEQA exemption, allowing them to move forward with work on the pipeline, the coalition pointed out.

“This is unacceptable. But it’s not too late to stop it, because this oil needs somewhere to go, and right now that failed pipeline — and our collective opposition to it — is the only thing standing in the way,” the group said.

The Last Chance Alliance is calling on Governor Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and California State Parks to require a full Environmental Impact Report before Sable gets the green light to move oil through the failed pipeline.  

Tell Gov. Newsom and State Parks to require a full environmental impact report!   

Ironically, in a classical case of deep regulatory capture that corporate and faux “alternative” media refused to report on, the 2015 spill fouled so-called “marine protected areas” created under the leadership of a Big Oil lobbyist — “marine protected areas” that weren't protected from oil drilling and other impacts on the ocean other than fishing.

That’s right — Catherine Reheis-Boyd-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), chaired the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative to create “marine protected areas” from 2009 to 2012. And to top things off, Plains All American was a member of the Western States Petroleum Association that Reheis-Boyd lobbied for. Reheis-Boyd also served on the task forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast.

And now the Newsom Administration continues the regulatory capture that caused the pipeline spill in the first place by approving the restart of offshore oil production through the controversial pipeline.

This restart was made possible because the oil and gas industry is the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in a state with a lot of powerful lobbying organizations. The oil industry spent a record total of $38 million in lobbying expenses in California in 2024, shattering by 31 percent the annual state lobbying record of $26.2 million set in 2017, to thwart climate justice and other environmental legislation.

The Western States Petroleum Association placed first in the Big Oil lobbying spending spree with $17.4 million, while Chevron came in second with $14.2 million. Spending by the Western States Petroleum Association and Chevron alone shattered the previous record, coming in at $31.6 million in 2024.  

The unprecedented lobbying spending spree by Big Oil that took place in 2023 and 2024 has continued into 2025 as the oil industry spends millions to stop the Polluters Pay Superfund Act and other climate legislation. The oil and gas industry spent a total of $9,139,655 in the first quarter of 2025, according to disclosures on the California Secretary of State’s website. 

As usual, Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association, the most powerful corporate lobbying organizations in California, spent more than any other lobbying groups in the state in the first quarter.

Chevron came in first with $3,758,914 spent, while the Western States Petroleum Association finished second with $3,471,879 spent. That’s well over $7 million between those two organizations alone.  

WSPA and the oil companies wield their power in 8 major ways: through (1) lobbying; (2) campaign spending; (3) serving on and putting shills on regulatory panels; (4) creating Astroturf groups; (5) working in collaboration with media; (6) sponsoring awards ceremonies and dinners, including those for legislators and journalists; (7) contributing to non profit organizations; and (8) creating alliances with labor unions, mainly in the construction trades.

Background: Specifics on the Production Restart from Sable Offshore:

• On May 15, 2025, Sable initiated the flow of oil production from six wells on Platform Harmony of the SYU to LFC at a rate of ~6,000 barrels of oil per day.
• Sable has been testing wells on Platform Harmony throughout May 2025 and the well tests have performed consistently stronger than they did at the time of shut-in on May 19, 2015 when the SYU produced approximately 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
• Approximately 30% of the 32 producing wells at Platform Harmony have been tested as of May 18, 2025 with the remaining Platform Harmony wells projected to be tested over the course of the next several days.
• Sable expects to initiate production from the additional 44 wells on Platform Heritage and the additional 26 wells on Platform Hondo in July 2025 and August 2025, respectively