{"id":219777,"date":"2026-03-14T17:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219777\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T17:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:40:08","slug":"trump-administration-orders-restart-of-california-offshore-oil-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219777\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration orders restart of California offshore oil operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on Friday directed Sable Offshore to restart its operations of the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez Pipeline System off the coast of California, which comes as oil and gas prices surge as a result of Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Energy Secretary Chris Wright\u2019s order for oil production, which followed an executive order<\/a> signed by President Trump on Friday, intends to \u201caddress supply disruption risks caused by California policies that have left the region and U.S. military forces dependent on foreign oil,\u201d according to a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Administration remains committed to putting all Americans and their energy security first,\u201d\u00a0Wright said in the statement. \u201cUnfortunately, some state leaders have not adhered to those same principles, with potentially disastrous consequences not just for their residents, but also our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s order will strengthen America\u2019s 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Department of Energy stated that Sable Offshore\u2019s facility can produce around 50,000 barrels of oil per day, \u201ca 15 percent increase to California\u2019s in-state oil production, that can replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.\u201d<\/p>\n

The department claimed that \u201cdecades of radical state policies targeting reliable energy sources\u201d have resulted in a decline in domestic output.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, more than 60 percent of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz\u2014presenting serious national security threats,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order will also prioritize pipeline transportation capacity, ensuring that crude oil produced off California\u2019s coast travels through interstate pipelines. This action intends to allow California\u2019s \u201creliance on foreign oil vulnerable to geopolitical disruption\u201d to be reduced.<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) called Trump\u2019s order the \u201clatest brazen abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Bonta wrote<\/a> on the social platform X.<\/p>\n

California previously sued<\/a> the Trump administration for approving the oil pipelines back in January. Bonta argued then that the Golden State \u201chas seen first-hand the devastating environmental and public health impacts of coastal oil spills \u2014 yet the Trump Administration will stop at nothing to evade state regulation which protects against these very disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration has dismissed worries over rising gas prices following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has halted the passage of around 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and gas. Trump recently defended<\/a> the price hikes, arguing on Thursday that \u201cwhen oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has also temporarily lifted sanctions<\/a> on Russian oil stranded at sea in response to the rising prices as a result of the military offensive in Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that the \u201cnarrowly tailored\u201d measure \u201cwill not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government\u201d and will be in effect until April 11.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Trump administration on Friday directed Sable Offshore to restart its operations of the Santa Ynez Unit and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2672,7,1801,9,8,13263,4755,63581,73166,92467,13264,3020,65989,6151,1695],"class_list":["post-219777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-administration","tag-california","tag-california-attorney-general","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-coast-of-california","tag-executive-order","tag-foreign-oil","tag-oil-pipelines","tag-oil-prices","tag-oil-production","tag-president-trump","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-the-trump","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}