Federal Regulators to Oversee Pipeline Critical to Sable’s Restart of Offshore Oil Production
The federal government is taking regulatory authority over Sable Offshore Corp.’s Las Flores Pipeline System, which connects the Santa Ynez Unit to the Pentland Station terminal in Kern County. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) confirmed the company’s determination earlier in the month that the Las Flores Pipeline was an interstate pipeline under the Pipeline Safety Act rather than an intrastate public under state regulation.
In early December, Sable requested that the federal government take regulatory oversight of the pipeline system that is critical to its restart of oil production in the Santa Ynez Unit. In a December 17, 2025 letter to Sable, the PHMSA notified Sable of the change. The determination gives the PHMSA exclusive regulatory oversight over the pipeline, taking the regulation of the pipeline from the California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM).
The PHMSA determined that the pipeline was an interstate pipeline because it transports oil from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in federal waters to an onshore processing facility and then to the Pentland Station. The pipeline was under federal regulation until 2016, when the pipeline owners cancelled its tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and changed its status to an intrastate pipeline. A FERC tariff allows a pipeline to transport oil in interstate commerce at specific rates and terms. The PHMSA stated in its letter that a pipeline that originates in the federal OCS is an interstate pipeline even if it does not have a FERC tariff. The PHMSA also stated that it considers the Company’s pipeline system to be an “active” pipeline according to PHMSA regulations.
Sable’s request for federal oversight comes after the OSFM sent a letter to Sable in October stating that it had not met all requirements to restart the pipeline. (see State Fire Marshall Delays Approval of Sable Restart Plan.) Federal regulators are expected to provide an easier path to the restart of the pipeline.
In September, Sable requested federal approval to use an offshore storage and treating (OS&T) vessel and shuttle tankers to ship crude oil produced on federal leases from the Santa Ynez Unit. The company plans to use the vessel as a potential alternative to using the existing onshore Las Flores facility and pipeline.