{"id":235196,"date":"2026-03-25T03:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235196\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T03:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:27:15","slug":"chevron-to-purchase-oil-from-sable-in-santa-barbara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235196\/","title":{"rendered":"Chevron to purchase oil from Sable in Santa Barbara"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oil giant\u00a0Chevron\u00a0will begin purchasing oil from\u00a0Sable<\/a> Offshore Corp., the Houston-based company announced Tuesday. The dramatic move comes amid a legal battle between California and the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

The petroleum corporation plans to purchase an initial 20,000 barrels<\/a> of oil per day from offshore platforms near Santa Barbara, just weeks after the federal government approved the restart of production, Bloomberg reported. <\/a><\/p>\n

Gas prices are continuing to rise as the US-Israel war on Iran has triggered the biggest oil supply disruptions in history. JOHN G MABANGLO\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The move is a boost for Sable, which has faced strong environmental opposition<\/a> to resuming operations in California waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to run Sable\u2019s crude at El Segundo in April,\u201d Chevron executive\u00a0Andy Walz\u00a0told the outlet, adding that the Los Angeles-area refinery \u2014 which can process about 269,000 barrels per day \u2014 is set to handle the supply.<\/p>\n

A Chevron gas station sign in Las Vegas, Nevada, shows regular gasoline priced at $4.99 and diesel at $5.39. Bryan Steffy\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Sable announced on March 16<\/a> that it had restarted production at its Santa Barbara offshore platforms, sending oil through the region\u2019s controversial pipeline for the first time since 2015.<\/p>\n

The restart came after\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act<\/a>, a Cold War-era law that allows the federal government to accelerate production of critical materials, including oil and gas.<\/p>\n

That same week, California filed a lawsuit challenging the order, arguing it \u201cillegally asserts exclusive jurisdiction over two California onshore oil pipelines\u201d and prioritizes \u201cdonors over our people and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded to the news, writing in a statement to the Post: \u201cThe Attorney General is seeking to halt Sable\u2019s unlawful restart of California\u2019s onshore oil pipelines that are subject to State regulation and oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is unwavering in our commitment to protect our coastline and our public health,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to vigorously litigating our case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view of the offshore oil and gas platform Esther on March 17, 2026 in Seal Beach, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Californian Post has reached out to Gavin Newsom\u00a0for comment on the latest developments.<\/p>\n

Chevron and other companies are scrambling to drill new wells and reopen old wells once considered unprofitable. Getty Images<\/p>\n

California consistently has some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation, often more than $2 per gallon above the national average \u2014 driven in part by declining in-state production and reliance on imported crude.<\/p>\n

Federal officials said Sable\u2019s restart is aimed at addressing \u201csupply disruption risks\u201d that have left parts of California \u2014 and even U.S. military operations \u2014 more dependent on foreign oil.<\/p>\n

Now that Sable has flipped the switch, production could ramp up to between 45,000 and 55,000 barrels per day. While that is a small fraction of the more than 20 million barrels consumed daily nationwide, it represents a meaningful boost for California\u2019s supply.<\/p>\n

Critics argue policies under Newsom have accelerated refinery closures. AP<\/p>\n

California\u2019s oil production has been steadily declining<\/a> for decades, dropping from about 1.1 million barrels per day in 1986 to roughly 246,000 barrels per day as of late 2025 \u2014 a roughly 77% plunge as aging oil fields dry up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking American crude oil, putting it in American pipelines, running an American refinery and selling those products to American motorists \u2014 and it\u2019s going to be cheaper than importing,\u201d Walz said, adding that \u201cthe Sable opportunity is a good thing for America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics argue policies under Newsom \u2014 including a 2023 refinery price-control law \u2014 have accelerated refinery closures and increased reliance on imported crude.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0U.S. Oil and Gas Association\u00a0recently said<\/a>: \u201cCalifornia imports 63% of its crude from foreign countries \u2014 despite sitting on at least 1.7 billion barrels of proven reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Chevron has clashed with Newsom.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Chevron issued a doomsday warning in a letter to Newsom<\/a>, saying the state could face major job losses and soaring gas prices under what it called his \u201cmisguided\u201d climate policies \u2014 particularly proposed changes to the cap-and-trade program, which the company warned could \u201ccripple\u201d remaining refineries and drive up fuel costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oil giant\u00a0Chevron\u00a0will begin purchasing oil from\u00a0Sable Offshore Corp., the Houston-based company announced Tuesday. The dramatic move comes amid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,3720,756,147,106377,457,4182,8390,92467,3586],"class_list":["post-235196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chevron","tag-gas","tag-gas-prices","tag-gas-stations","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-metro","tag-oil","tag-oil-prices","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235196","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=235196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}