On the 10th anniversary of a massive Santa Barbara County oil spill on the Gaviota Coast, the oil company that now owns the pipeline that ruptured in 2015 has announced that it's been repaired and operations are resuming.
Sable Offshore Corporation released a statement to investors saying that it's once again pumping oil from some of its wells from offshore oil platforms that had been shut down since the May 19, 2015, accident. The Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach, causing an oil spill of more than 140,000 gallons.
Without a pipeline to move oil, it forced the shutdown of the three platforms.
Sable bought the operation and has been working to repair the pipeline. The situation turned into a battle, with environmentalists and the State Coastal Commission contending that additional review was needed to ensure there wouldn't be another accident. The company argued that existing permits allowed for repairs to the pipeline. There have been a number of lawsuits over the situation, but Sable continued working on the repairs.
In its statement, the company reports that seven of the eight segments have already been tested and are ready for use and that tests are underway on the eighth.
The statement also says the company reactivated six wells on Platform Harmony and is moving oil to its onshore Las Flores facility for storage. The facility can store more than half a million barrels of oil. It's unclear when the oil might start moving through the pipeline to refineries.
The company plans to reactivate the remaining 26 wells on the platform after testing is completed. It says it will bring the 44 wells on Platform Heritage back online in July and the 26 wells on Platform Hondo back online in August.
Environmentalists caution that reopening the decades-old oil infrastructure could lead to another major spill. The company says it's added a number of safety measures and is testing the infrastructure before reactivating it.
