Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged California, Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, finances, oil and gas reserves, production, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit, update on June 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Those who have been following the Santa Ynez Unit saga should take a look at Sable’s informative PowerPoint update (attached). The presentation includes reserve data, well operation plans, production forecasts, financial and legal updates, and regional energy supply information.
Also, Sable CEO Jim Flores has announced that Energy Secretary Wright and Interior Secretary Burgum will be visiting the project this week. Transportation Secretary Duffy was also expected, but he will not be attending.
Posted in California, decommissioning, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged decommissioning, Dos Cuadras field, Lease OCS-P 0241, Platform A, Santa Barbara blowout, well plugging and abandonment on May 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
As part of the recent focus on decommissioning and financial assurance requirements, I looked at borehole data for platforms A, B, and C on Lease OCS-P 0241 in the Santa Barbara Channel. Platform “A” is where a well blew out in 1969, permanently scarring the US offshore program. Observations:
Lease documents and regulations at 30 CFR § 250.1710 require that all wells be permanently plugged within one year of lease termination. For leases like 0241 that are still active, 30 CFR § 250.1711 stipulates that BSEE will order a well to be permanently plugged if the well poses a hazard to safety or the environment, or is not useful for lease operations and is not capable of oil, gas, or sulphur production in paying quantities. In the Gulf of America Region, the policy is to require wells that have not been used in the past 5 years to be permanently plugged. Allowing old wells to remain unplugged is neither prudent nor consistent with the regulations.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Regulation, tagged California, Gaviota State Park, Judge Stephen Wilson, no imminent harm, Sable Offshore on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Sable Offshore (SOC) surged 12% on Thursday. Here’s why:
Judge Stephen V. Wilson, US District Court for the Central District of California ruled that Sable’s pipeline doesn’t imminently harm Gaviota Park. Judge Wilson said the state “is grasping at straws,” for evidence of real environmental harm, and the federal consent decree governing the terms of the system’s restart is controlled by the California Office of the State Fire Marshall, not the parks department.
The judge didn’t rule on the larger question of whether the Defense Production Act order to restart the Las Flores pipeline system was lawful.
Posted in California, decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged California, Chevron, cost, DCOR, decommissioning obligations, Eagles, Freeport-McMoRan, John B Smith on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »
John Smith’s update on California OCS Decommissioning Obligations is attached. His comments:
Chevron and FMC hold joint and several liability responsibilities for many platforms and all of those operated by DCOR. This reflects Chevron’s long history in developing CA onshore and offshore oil and gas resources. A 2020 report issued by BSEE estimated the nine platforms operated by DCOR had a combined decommissioning cost of $397 million. The actual cost could be 2-3-fold higher based on estimates for decommissioning California state water platforms prepared by experienced decommissioning consultants.
Chevron may be checking out of California by moving its corporate offices to Houston, but as someone once said about decommissioning – referring to the popular Eagles Hotel California song “You can check out but you can never leave.”
Official decommissioning anthem 😉: Hotel California
Excerpt from the lyrics – Hotel California, Eagles, 1976
Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the night man
“We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave”
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, California, tagged Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Unit, injunction, Judge Geck, change of venue on May 20, 2026| 2 Comments »
A legal challenge to Sable’s ongoing Santa Ynez Unit production has been transferred from the Santa Barbara courtroom of Judge Donna Geck (pictued) to a Federal courtroom in northern California.
Judge Geck had refused to lift her preliminary injunction on SYU operations, and appeared to be set to find Sable in contempt at a hearing that was scheduled for this Friday (5/22).
Attorneys for a coalition of Santa Barbara environmental organizations have filed legal papers demanding that the case be returned to Judge Geck.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged BOEM, CBD, Development Plans, dismissal, Justice Dept., litigation, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit, US Dept. of the Interior on May 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »
On 5/14/2026, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed the complaint filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) against the Dept. of the Interior. This was one of the less prominent cases challenging Sable Offshore’s oil and gas operations in the Santa Ynez Unit.
The CBD had challenged an April 2025 BOEM decision concluding that Sable was not required to revise its development and production plan for the SYU. They sought a court order requiring a revised plan. This suit seemed to be a stretch, so its dismissal is not a surprise.
Per the Dept. of Justice, the court dismissed the lawsuit because the plaintiffs’ asserted procedural injury had no basis in the statute, was not traceable to any action by BOEM, and could not be redressed by an order of the court. (Other than that, it was just fine. 😉)
Among other problems the court identified with the plaintiffs’ case, they invoked a provision of the statute that governs “approval of a development and production plan,” not revision of an already-existing plan. It will be interesting to see the full decision so that we can better understand the context for that statement. Distinguishing revised plans in that manner could have significant policy implications.
For a full update on Sable litigation, see the section of their Quarterly Report beginning on p. 12.
Posted in California, decommissioning, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged BOEM, ConocoPhillips, decommissioning, Devon, financial assurance, Hogan and Houchin, IBLA, Oxy, permanent abandonment, Signal Hill, temporary abandonment on May 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »
In light of the decommissioning fire at Platform Habitat, I checked on the status of well plugging operations at Platforms Hogan and Houchin.
BSEE (2020) estimates the cost of decommissioning these facilities to be $85 million (too low), and there is no collateral or third party guarantee.
The responsibility for decommissioning these platforms has yet to be settled. ConocoPhillips, Oxy, and Devon have appealed decommissioning orders from BSEE. The Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) has yet to rule on those appeals. The appellants are funding some plugging operations and facility upgrades pending the IBLA decision.
Per BSEE’s borehole file, this is the current status of the Hogan and Houchin wells:
Therefore, by my count, 33 wells have yet to be TA’d, and all 76 wells remain to be PA’d. Note that the lease was relinquished nearly 6 years ago (10/14/2020).
If you are interested in the Hogan/Houchin mess or decommissioning liability in general, I highly recommend that you look at Devon’s informative and rather compelling appeal to IBLA. Similar appeals were submitted by Oxy and ConocoPhillips.
Lease history (excerpted from the Devon appeal):
1991 Assignment to Signal Hill: MMS approved assignment of the lease to Signal Hill effective February 5, 1991. The assignment was approved without any provision under which the assignors agreed to be liable for decommissioning operations on the lease. MMS’s approval actually had the opposite effect, leaving such obligations to the assignee. The assignment was approved despite concerns within the MMS about the financial strength of Signal Hill and the technical competence of Pacific Operators Offshore Inc (POOI), the affiliate that would operate the facilities.
Comments:
This is the final day to comment on BOEM’s proposal:
Posted in accidents, California, decommissioning, Regulation, tagged BOEM, California, DCOR, decommissioning, financial assurance, fire, FMOG, Habitat, predecessor liability, well plugging and abandonment on May 14, 2026| 2 Comments »
At a minimum, the fire will further delay and increase the cost of well plugging operations on Platform Habitat. Per BSEE’s borehole file, 17 wells remain to be permanently abandoned, 3 of which have yet to be temporarily abandoned. These wells are 23-44 years old, and have been inactive for 11 years.
If there is significant platform damage, the remediation delays and costs would be substantial, comparable to those associated with major Gulf platforms damaged by hurricanes. Structural damage could increase the urgency of removing the platform. Given California’s decommissioning quagmire, this would be a major challenge.
Who pays, and what does the financial assurance picture look like? Per the attached BOEM spreadsheet (excerpt pasted below):
Although DCOR LLC is the current Habitat operator, the company owns only a 4.18% share of the project. CHANNEL ISLANDS CAPITAL, L.L.C., a private company about which little is known, holds a 95.82% share.
Should the 2 owners default, BOEM/MMA will look to the guarantor and predecessor lessees (see the chart below). Unfortunately for FMOG, they are both the guarantor and the predecessor lessee. FMOG acquired Plains Exploration & Production (PXP), the operator prior to DCOR. Nuevo Energy was acquired by PXP and thus also tracks back to FMOC. (This may explain FMOC’s decision to be a guarantor!).
Should FMOC fail to fulfill their obligation. Chevron would likely be the next target. The original Harvest partners were Texaco (operator) and Union Oil, both of which were acquired by Chevron.
Posted in accidents, California, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged DCOR, decommissioning, expired lease, fire, incidents, platform condition, platform habitat, violations, well plugging on May 13, 2026| 1 Comment »
All 26 workers were safely evacuated from DCOR’s Platform Habitat. The big question now is the fitness of the structure for continuing well plugging/abandonment and platform decommissioning.
As indicated in the attached letter, BSEE had informed DCOR that their Pitas Point Unit leases (where Platform Habitat is located) expired on 3/15/2016 owing to the cessation of well operations 6 months prior. Following the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) May 7, 2021 affirmation of BSEE’s directive, DCOR was notified that they must permanently plug all wells within one year of the lease termination (i.e. one year after the 2021 IBLA decision). I’ll include the informative IBLA decision in a future post.
Although details have not been shared, it appears that well plugging operations were still ongoing on 5/11/2026 when the fire occurred. According to BSEE’s borehole file, most of the Habitat wells have been temporarily abandoned, but few have been permanently abandoned, and several are still completed (i.e. neither temporarily nor permanently abandoned).
The risks and costs associated with delaying well plugging and abandonment have once again been demonstrated at Habitat. Fortunately, there were no casualties or pollution.
With regard to overall safety compliance, DCOR is the violations leader in the Pacific Region. In 2025 and 2026 (YTD) they were cited for 70 violations, 66 of which required component or facility shut-ins. The age of the 9 DCOR platforms (installed by others between 1968 and 1984) has likely contributed to the compliance challenges.
BSEE spreadsheets for 2020-2024 show 6 incidents at Platform Habitat. BSEE’s incident summaries are pasted in the second attachment.
Neither DCOR nor BSEE has issued a statement on the Habitat fire.
This serious incident further demonstrates the concerns expressed by John Smith and me about the relaxed decommissioning financial assurance regulations proposed by BOEM.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, California, tagged California, Coast Guard, DCOR, decommissioning, fire, gas leak, no injuries, platform habitat, Santa Barbara on May 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 