U.S. oil firm Sable Offshore Corp, which seeks to restart production offshore California via a pipeline to the coast, has unveiled an alternative offtake strategy after being sued by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney for environmental violations.
This alternative strategy, a so-called Offshore Storage and Treating Vessel (OS&T) strategy, would entail seeking federal clearance to transport the oil from the offshore platforms via shuttle tankers. The strategy, aimed to provide access to domestic and global markets for federal crude oil produced from the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) offshore Santa Barbara, is pursued simultaneously with the company’s formal request for approval of restart plans to the California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) for the Las Flores Pipeline System.
“Sable continues to work diligently with the State of California to safely and responsibly resume petroleum transportation through the Onshore Pipeline in accordance with its Federal Consent Decree, which was entered into by several state and federal agencies,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Santa Barbara County District Attorney John T. Savrnoch filed criminal charges against Sable Offshore in Santa Barbara County Superior Court for environmental violations.
The complaint alleges that Sable Offshore committed five felony violations of the California Water Code for knowingly discharging dredged or fill material into waters of the United States; 11 misdemeanor violations of the California Fish and Game Code; and five misdemeanor violations of the Fish and Game Code.
Sable responded to the charges saying that “The allegations from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office are inflammatory and extremely misleading.”
Sable says that all of the repairs and excavations were supervised by a certified independent biologist and cultural resource professional and Office of State Fire Marshal personnel, no wildlife were adversely affected, and previously disturbed areas have been or are being remediated in accordance with state and local erosion control mitigation measures.
The oil company noted this week that the onshore pipeline would provide “immediate economic relief to California residents and will play a large role in stabilizing local refineries.”
In the option to seek federal nod for using shuttle tankers to ship the oil, the company “would have the freedom to market its production outside of the State of California,” Sable said, adding that it plans “to aggressively pursue all legal remedies” in the litigation in California.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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