Trump Administration Directs Sable to Restart Santa Ynez Unit and Pipeline, Citing National Security
The Trump administration directed Sable Offshore Corp. on March 13, 2026 to restart the oil pipeline servicing the Santa Ynez Unit. The company began transporting oil from the Santa Ynez Unit offshore through the Las Flores Pipeline System (referred to in the order as the Santa Ynez Pipeline System) from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland Station in Kern County.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright framed the pipeline directive in national security terms. The order will “address supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil,” Wright said in a statement. “Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness.”
The directive is the latest move by the Trump administration to assist Sable’s in its ongoing legal and political conflict with California over the restart of the pipeline system that ruptured and caused the 2015 Refugio oil spill. In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) approved Sable’s restart plan for its Las Flores Pipeline System only days after confirming the company’s determination that the pipeline was an interstate pipeline under the Pipeline Safety Act rather than an intrastate public under state regulation.
The March 13 order states that the Santa Ynez Unit “is a critical energy resource on the West Coast” and “one of the largest known offshore oilfields in the United States.” The order states that the oilfield cannot address the energy shortages cited in President Donald Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order declaring a national energy emergency “without reliable transport of SYU’s production through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System (SYPS) to market on mainland California.”
The order directs Sable to “immediately prioritize and allocate pipeline transportation services for hydrocarbons from the SYU through the SYPS, including transportation service activities at the onshore facilities in Las Flores Canyon, California, to the Pentland Station terminal in Pentland, California.” The Santa Ynez Pipeline System has an existing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, according to Sable.
Sable stated that it is producing oil from Platform Harmony and expects to increase to full production at Platform Harmony and Platform Heritage by the end of March. It expects Platform Hondo to resume full production in June 2026. Sable plans to begin sales by April 1, 2026 at 50,000 barrels per day.
Order Invoked Defense Production Act
Wright’s directive invoked his authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950, which gives the president authority to direct private industry to prioritize and produce materials that are vital for national defense. The directive came shortly after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to delegate certain authorities under the DPA to the Secretary of Energy.
Wrights directive also builds on Trump’s executive order declaring a national energy emergency. “An affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation,” the directive states. “The President determined that problems are most pronounced in our Nation’s West Coast, “where dangerous State and local policies jeopardize our Nation’s core national defense and security needs, and devastate the prosperity of not only local residents but the entire United States population.”
California Officials Say State Will Sue
Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the move and said California would sue to enforce court orders and state law against Sable and to challenge the Trump administration’s use of emergency powers in the matter.
“Donald Trump started a war, admitted it would spike gas prices nationwide, told Americans it was a small price to pay, and now he’s using this crisis of his own making to attempt what he’s wanted to do for years: open California’s coast for his oil industry friends so they can poison our beaches,” Newsom said in a statement. “This wouldn’t lower prices by a cent. This is an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting,” he said.
California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy. The Trump administration and Sable are defying multiple court orders, and we will see them back in court.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the order was the Trump administration’s “latest brazen abuse of power.” He said on social media that California “will not stand by as this administration continues their unlawful all-out assault on California and our coastlines, and we are reviewing all of our legal options.”