A company involved in the controversial restart of oil production in Santa Barbara County is continuing to ramp up operations.
In March, Sable Offshore Corporation resumed operations of an oil pipeline that had ruptured on the Gaviota Coast in 2015, causing a 140,000-gallon oil spill.
Environmentalists and some state agencies objected. Lawsuits were filed, but operations resumed using a federal law that allows traditional regulations to be bypassed during national emergencies.
In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sable reports 52 of the 77 wells on two of its offshore oil platforms are now in operation. The company says it expects to have more wells and its third platform online later this year.
The company says it’s also investigating the installation of an offshore buoy system, which would allow the sale of some of the oil to other markets using tankers. The filing says the company is just evaluating the idea at this point, and is not actively pursuing permits for the facility.
