Sable dismisses ‘inflammatory’ legal claims over Californian pipelines’ restart

September 22, 2025, by Dragana Nikše

Texas-based oil company Sable Offshore has denied any wrongdoing in its efforts to restart two pipelines connecting its assets offshore California to an onshore processing facility, following legal action brought by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.

Harmony platform; Source: Sable Offshore

After the Santa Barbara County District Attorney filed litigation titled People of the State of California v. Sable Offshore Corp. in the Superior Court for the County of Santa Barbara on September 16, the operator responded by calling it a “politically motivated attack.”

The Texas-based player is attempting to restart the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) oil and gas operation in Santa Barbara County. The unit includes three offshore platforms in federal waters (Harmony, Hondo, and Heritage) connected to shore by offshore pipelines, onshore pipelines, the Ellwood Pier, mooring buoys, and the Las Flores Canyon (LFC) Processing Facility.

The onshore pipelines include pipelines identified as CA-324 and CA-325 (formerly Lines 901 and 903) that were responsible for the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill. Sable said it continues to work with all state and federal agencies to restart the two lines.

“Concerning our legal and established pipeline’s right of way and the work conducted within previously disturbed soil, we have been and continue to work with the appropriate agencies to align interpretations in the handling of backfill soil during the repair and maintenance process,” noted Sable.

Sable called the allegations from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” The operator explained that all of the repairs and excavations were supervised by a certified independent biologist and cultural resource professional.

Furthermore, the company alleges that no wildlife was adversely affected, noting that all previously disturbed areas have been or are being remediated in accordance with state and local erosion control mitigation measures.

The assets stopped producing in May 2015, when a corroded onshore pipeline ruptured and released around 450,000 gallons (1,703.44 cubic meters) of oil near Refugio State Beach north of Santa Barbara. Sable brought back online the first platform, Harmony, in May 2025, enabling the first oil output after ten years.

The flow of oil production from six wells on this platform of the SYU to LFC at a rate of around 6,000 barrels of oil per day was expected to be followed by a resumption of output from the additional 44 wells on the Heritage platform and the 26 wells on the Hondo platform. All three platforms in the SYU are anticipated to be online by the end of 2025.

The Santa Barbara DA is not the only legal issue Sable has been facing recently. Environmental groups are opposing the restart of the three platforms, calling the plans for their restart outdated. In late July, a federal court enabled several new groups to join the legal fight against the oil and gas company.