The Trump administration is proposing to offer six lease sales off the coast of California between 2027 and 2030 as part of its five-year offshore drilling plan, the Washington Post reported.
The proposed lease sales would primarily be offshore from Santa Barbara County, the New York Times reported, where Sable Offshore Corp. is looking to restart three drilling rigs in federal waters. Governor Gavin Newsom said offshore oil drilling is “overwhelmingly opposed by members of all political parties in the state of California.” He called it “dead on arrival in California.”
There have not been any federal oil and gas lease sales along the Pacific coast since 1984, according to the Congressional Research Service. Active leases, however, produce oil from the state’s 23 oil platforms in federal waters and four platforms in state waters.
Industry analysts doubted whether oil companies would be interested in expanding drilling off the coast of California given the state’s environmental laws. In addition to the California Coastal Act and other environmental law, the recently passed SB 237 heightens oversight for producing offshore oil and restarting intrastate pipelines.
Companies could avoid California’s pipeline regulations and coastal protection laws by using tankers instead of pipelines. Sable, which has been involved in a long legal and political battle to restart the onshore Las Flores Pipeline System, has requested federal approval to use an offshore storage and treating (OS&T) vessel and shuttle tankers to ship crude oil produced on federal leases. The OS&T system would be an alternative to using the Las Flores Canyon facility and pipeline.
The Houston Chronicle first reported on the plan in October. Originally, the plan was to open lease sales in federal waters off Alaska in 2026, the coasts of southern and central California in 2027, and along the Atlantic Coast in 2028. The Atlantic coast was removed from consideration after protest from Republicans in the region, according to Politico.