A state regulatory agency informed Sable Offshore Corp. that it had not met all requirements to restart oil production.
The Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) sent a letter to Sable on October 22, 2025 stating that it had not met the tool sizing accuracy found in the safety waivers that the regulatory granted Sable in December 2024.
Sable submitted a restart plan for OSFM approval on September 11, 2025. During its ongoing review, the OSFM identified a requirement of the safety waiver that must be made before the company can restart the pipeline.
The OSFM stated that Sable “must repair all immediate and 180-day repair conditions prior to restart.” The “most pertinent” repair that was not met “includes ‘anomalies that have an ILI reported depth of 40% or greater wall loss, including tool sizing tolerance for depth.’”
But beyond that, the fire marshal claimed, Sable needed to have factored in a margin of error specific to the diagnostic in-line tool used to read the extent of corrosion.
The OFSM stated that this required “a permanent repair method” and “the inconsistencies with the State Waiver requirements prevent restart under the law.”
Sable responded that the OSFM’s conclusions “are in error, ignore the remainder of the Waivers and are inconsistent with numerous discussions between OSFM and Sable.”
Sable argued that the immediate and 180-day repair conditions require it to use the “Ultrasonic Thickness Wall Measurement (UTWM) and Ultrasonic Shear Wave Crack Detection (USCD) in-line inspection (ILI) tools” within seven days of a “steady state operation.” The in-line inspection tools, Sable argued, can only be run after the pipeline is restarted.
Sable’s Time Constraint
Sable is under a critical time constraint in its restart. The recently passed SB 237 would require Sable to obtain a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission. The law takes effect January 1, 2026, giving Sable only two months to obtain approval and avoid the additional permitting.
As an alternative to the pipeline, Sable recently 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 is looking to raise $1.7 billion to fund the OS&T strategy, according to Reuters.