As Californians face hovering costs on the gasoline pump, the newly re-opened Santa Ynez Refinery is now churning out 60,000 barrels of oil a day.
Throughout an unique go to to the newly reopened platforms, the place oil is as soon as once more flowing by way of onshore pipelines in Santa Barbara following a Trump government order, The California Submit sat down with the ability’s government, who provided a pointed however measured response to the Democrat outcry on the determination, which remains to be going through authorized motion to close it down once more.
“Now we have an ideal, protected restart of the pipeline,” J. Caldwell Flores, president and CEO of Sable Offshore Corp., informed The Submit.
“We acknowledge we’re offering a crucial service to California and the nation as a complete.”
About 100 new jobs have already been created, and a further 200 are anticipated as soon as all three platforms are absolutely operational, based on Sable.
It’s additionally projected to generate an estimated $5 million in annual tax income, which the state definitely wants.
The helicopter tour was a quick ten-minute flight from the Las Flores Canyon onshore base to the Concord platform.
On board have been two pilots, six passengers, and a Submit journalist.
The platform sometimes hosts about 35 crew members at a time on two-week shifts. There are three platforms – Hondo, Concord, and Heritage – all situated in federal waters off the Santa Barbara coast.
U.S. Rep. Vince Fong, whose district consists of among the state’s richest oil reserves, was additionally a part of the tour.
Fong was much more scathing in his critique of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s oil insurance policies, and hailed the refinery as a essential step towards reducing gasoline prices.
“It’s American oil, on American soil,” Fong stated, as he watched the platforms in motion.
Sable’s almost 60,000 barrels per day could also be small in comparison with U.S. consumption of about 20 million barrels, nevertheless it’s important for California.
The state’s oil manufacturing has fallen by about 75% since its peak within the Eighties.
The Santa Ynez pipeline restart “marks a 15% improve in California’s in-state oil manufacturing, which can substitute nearly 1.5 million barrels of overseas crude oil every month,” based on the Division of Power.
“We’d like extra manufacturing. Have a look at California’s vitality disaster proper now – it’s due to dangerous insurance policies,” Fong stated, taking intention at Newsom.
“Gavin Newsom has restricted home provide of oil and gasoline. He’s made California extra depending on overseas oil. He’s imposed taxes and charges and mandates that make California gasoline costlier.”
California has the highest gasoline tax within the U.S. at 61.2 cents per gallon for the state excise tax.
When together with federal taxes, gross sales taxes, and charges, the burden on California drivers is about 90 cents per gallon.
Flores agreed, including that the manufacturing from the refinery will fill a much-needed hole and ease costs.
“There will probably be some affect on that,” Flores stated. “It’s not good to quantify past the truth that we will probably be chargeable for $6 million price of gasoline for automobiles every month. That’s in all probability the easiest way to take a look at it.”
Sable’s infrastructure in Santa Barbara had been closed following the 2015 Refugio Seaside oil spill, brought on by a ruptured, closely corroded pipeline that launched over 120,000 gallons of crude oil.
The operation was shuttered for over a decade because of environmental harm, authorized injunctions, and failure to acquire crucial security permits earlier than just lately making an attempt to renew operations underneath federal emergency orders.
In Might 2025, oil from six Platform Concord wells started flowing to Las Flores Canyon for storage pending approval to restart the onshore pipeline.
On March 13, Trump issued an government order directing use of the Protection Manufacturing Act to authorize Sable Offshore to renew operations within the Santa Barbara Channel, citing nationwide safety and vitality provide considerations.
On March 14, hydrocarbon transport resumed from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland, and oil gross sales started on March 29.
“California is basically caught by itself, and that’s the place we land in essential infrastructure from a nationwide safety standpoint, as a result of there are about 50 air bases, naval bases, and military bases on the West Coast which are provided instantly by California home manufacturing,” Flores stated.
“Being depending on overseas imports that will not present up, as we’ve seen within the final month, is just not a superb nationwide safety posture in any respect.”
“For each barrel produced, it’s changing a barrel of oil imported into California from a overseas nation,” Fong added.
“Gavin Newsom has destroyed manufacturing in Southern California.”
In response, a spokesperson for Newsom provided: “For the sum of money Congressman Fong accepts from the fossil gasoline business, it’s shocking that he doesn’t appear to grasp fundamental economics.
“Since oil trades at a worldwide value, American crude sells to the best bidder, not at a reduction for American shoppers.”
Phillips 66 and Valero are winding down operations in California. The Bakersfield Phillips 66 refinery closed in December 2025, and Benicia’s Valero facility is about to close finish of this month.
Critics say Newsom’s strict environmental guidelines – together with a 2023 refinery price-cap legislation – have accelerated closures and boosted reliance on imported oil.
“Gavin Newsom must look within the mirror after we speak in regards to the vitality disaster in California,” Fong stated. “If he had any frequent sense, he would have allowed Sable to maneuver ahead with out the manager order, with out using the Protection Manufacturing Act. However due to his incompetence, President Trump needed to intervene and take motion.”
Andy Johnstone for CA Submit
The governor has maintained that rising gasoline costs are because of Trump’s war-related actions in Iran, which blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for the world’s oil provide. California was one of many worst-hit states in consequence.
The California Submit has reached out to Newsom’s workplace for touch upon in-state oil manufacturing decline throughout his tenure.
