Trump officials direct Sable to resume California oil operations

Catherine Lucey, Ari Natter and Nathan Risser, Bloomberg News on Mar 13, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday took action to clear the way for oil production off the California coast in a bid to ease the global fuel pressures created by the war with Iran.

The announcement by Energy Secretary Chris Wright follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday and directs Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based company, to begin restoring operations for the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez Pipeline System in California.

“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,” Wright said in a statement.

Trump’s war has pushed gas prices to their highest levels since he took office and in California they currently average over $5 a gallon, the highest in the nation. The issue has become a major political headache for Trump and Republicans heading into the midterm elections, which will likely turn on voters’ feelings about the economy and prices.

Sable’s yearslong effort to restart a cluster of oil platforms off the Santa Barbara coast has been stymied by local and state-level opposition and investors have been holding out on the promise of federal help. The Friday order relies on the Defense Production Act to compel the move.

The project could swiftly pump 45,000 to 55,000 barrels per day of crude once restarted. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to U.S. petroleum demand totaling more than 20 million barrels per day — as well as the estimated 15 million more now being kept from the world market by the Hormuz closure.

Trump, who once assailed former President Joe Biden over gas prices, has recently shifted away from bragging about the drop that has occurred during his presidency. At one point earlier this week he posted on social media that an increase is a “very small price to pay” for safety and peace.

On his social media platform Thursday, Trump said: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

The White House has been reviewing a number of strategies to tame price surges. On Wednesday, the administration announced it would release 172 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. They are also considering temporarily waiving an old maritime law that requires American ships be used to transport goods between U.S. ports in an effort to move oil and gasoline more cheaply.

“This is a revolting power grab by an extremist president,” said Center for Biological Diversity attorney Talia Nimmer. “Mandating a restart of these defective oil pipelines won’t curb high gas prices, but it will put coastal wildlife at huge risk of another oil spill,” Nimmer said.

The Santa Barbara coast was the site of a disastrous 1969 oil spill that led to the formation of Earth Day. One of the pipelines Sable is looking to restart and which is the subject of fierce local opposition caused the 2015 Refugio oil spill along the same stretch of coast.