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Posts Tagged ‘oil production’

Excerpts from Sable’s quarterly report:

Production

  • An average of approximately 39 wells were online throughout the month of June 2026, representing a 50% increase over approximately 26 wells online on average in April 2026.
  • In July 2026, an average of approximately 47 wells at Platforms Harmony and Heritage were online, producing an average of approximately 721 gross barrels of oil per day per well. Sable expects to bring all 77 production wells on these two platforms online during the third quarter of 2026 and expects Platform Hondo to come online in September 2026.
  • Wireline campaign for Perforation Additions (“Perf Adds”) and producing well optimization at Platform Harmony commenced in August 2026.
  • Five completed Perf Adds forecasted to produce an incremental 600 estimated gross barrels of oil per day, each, are expected to come online at Platform Hondo along with the restart of the platform in September 2026.
  • An additional four Perf Adds at Platform Hondo forecasted to produce an incremental estimated 600 gross barrels of oil per day are planned for completion and to be brought online in early Q4 2026.

Sales

  • July 2026 preliminary oil sales estimate of approximately 38,000 gross barrels of oil per day. August 2026 oil sales average to date is approximately 42,000 gross barrels of oil per day through August 9th.
  • Due to the California regulatory environment, local refineries were not able to plan in advance for SYU first sales and ultimately were forced to displace various imported cargos in the second quarter. As a result, Sable incurred $18.5 million of non-recurring demurrage charges throughout the quarter, recognized in operational expenses.
  • The sudden supply influx of Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (“Pacific OCS”) crude has forced refiners to temporarily limit throughput of Pacific OCS crude and charge quality deducts for sulfur content and other items.
  • Starting in July 2026, Sable was temporarily constrained to a maximum of 40,000 average gross barrels of oil per day of oil sales throughput by downstream partners. We expect this short-term constraint to be alleviated starting in the back half of August.
  • California refineries are expected to adjust their crude oil supply slate starting in September 2026 to begin accepting more Pacific OCS barrels from the SYU and less imported barrels, alleviating the SYU throughput constraint altogether.
  • Sable is also in active negotiations to implement waterborne crude oil marketing solutions from existing marine terminals in the Los Angeles area in the near-term in order to improve marketing optionality.
  • Additionally, the pending acquisition of the Crimson Utilities (San Pablo Bay Pipeline) pipeline network by a third party could provide further relief and marketing optionality to California oil producers with access to the San Francisco refinery market once that pipeline potentially restarts operations.

A detailed regulatory and legal update can be found beginning on p. 13 of the Quarterly Report.

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Per the preliminary EIA data for April, Gulf of America OCS facilities produced an average of 2.107 million bopd in April. This surpasses the previous record of 2.060 million bopd set in January.

Meanwhile, the Sable bump is now evident in the EIA’s Pacific OCS production data with a ~50% March-April increase from January-February. A bigger increase should be apparent when the May numbers are posted. How will Sable fare in the upcoming court battles?

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Sen. Mike Lee has introduced legislation to repeal the Jones Act, which is drawing additional scrutiny for the increased cost of transporting US oil production and LNG to US ports.

Because facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf are US ports under the Jones Act, the Act has been problematic for both the offshore oil and wind industries. The attached Customs and Border Patrol document delves into the nuances of Jones Act compliance for lifting operations (p.14-15) and “points” on the OCS (p.17).

EXAMPLE: CBP interprets the OCSLA to extend the Jones Act to artificial islands and similar structures, as well as to mobile oil drilling rigs, drilling platforms, and other devices attached to the seabed of the OCS for the purpose of resource extraction and/or exploration operations. Such objects located on the OCS are considered points or places in the United States for purposes of the Jones Act. Similarly, floating warehouse vessels, when anchored on the OCS to supply drilling rigs on the OCS, are also coastwise points.

Check out this complex CBP ruling on the transportation of well fluids from one location in a subsea well cluster to another. See if you understand and agree with their conclusion (below).

The transportation of fluids as described in the FACTS section above, by a dynamically-positioned, foreign-flagged drill ship between wells located within an IF (integrated facility), which subsequently, transships the fluids to a coastwise qualified barge for transportation to a coastwise point, violates 46 U.S.C. § 55102.

On a related matter, it’s still unclear to me whether the attachment of the lower marine riser package to a subsea wellhead makes a floating, dynamically positioned drillship a US port under the Jones Act.

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October 2025 Gulf of America oil production was the 2nd highest in history. As a result, the November data are much anticipated. Those data have been delayed from the scheduled date of 1/29/2026 until 2/6/2026. See the EIA advisory below

Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM) data for November 2025 are scheduled for release on Friday, February 6, 2026.

The U.S. Census Bureau will release trade data (both imports and exports) for November 2025 on Thursday, January 29, 2026. As a result, we will delay release of PSM data for November 2025 from the original scheduled release date of January 30, 2026, until Friday, February 6, 2026. The delayed PSM release will allow us time to incorporate export data for November 2025.

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Tyler Priest, the leading historian on US offshore oil and gas operations, has published another gem. His book, Offshore Oildom, is a fascinating account of the history of the technologically innovative and economically important, yet highly controversial, OCS Oil and Gas program. His book is highly recommended.

Consider this recommendation by Daniel Yergin:

“Tyler Priest, a preeminent historian of energy and the environment, explores how a single well drilled off a pier near Santa Barbara in 1898 gave rise to a major American industry—offshore oil and gas. In spirited prose, Priest demonstrates how this U.S. industry was created not only by innovation, creative engineering, and complex execution; it was also the result of fierce political battles.” ~Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power and The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations

You can learn more here.

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Forties Alpha platform, UK sector of the North Sea

JL Daeschler informs me that the famous Forties field in the North Sea turned 50 today. The field, which has produced 2.86 billion barrels of oil, was inaugurated in Aberdeen by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 November 1975.

Queen Elizabeth inaugurated Forties field production.

Marking the Forties field’s half-century, the current operator Apache said it stood as a testament to Scottish grit, industrial excellence, and enduring human spirit.

In November 2024 Apache said it had suspended new drilling and would end all its operations in the North Sea by 2029. ☹

Bucks Fizz performed on a Forties field platform in the 1980s

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March Gulf of America oil production was nearly identical to the 2024/2025 average, and the trend line (red) is remarkably flat. However, production remains below the volumes forecasted by EIA and well below those forecasted by BOEM.

It appears that new deepwater production is replacing Gulf-wide production declines, but is not yet sufficient to increase total production. We will see if that changes as the year progresses.

  • March 2025 Gulf of America production: 1.793 million bopd
  • 2024/2025 average production: 1.77 million bopd
  • 2024/2025 average omitting Sept. 2024 (tropical storms): 1.784 million bopd
  • EIA forecast for 2025 (published 9/16/2024): 1.9 million bopd
  • BOEM forecast for 2025 (published in 2022, table below): 2.052 million bopd

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Sustaining or preferably increasing production rates will be dependent on a reliable schedule of lease offerings and a consistent regulatory regime based on best safety management principles and continuous improvement in technology, practices, and culture. Poorly considered operating restrictions imposed by activist judges are a major risk to both safety and production.

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Actually, the latest data are for December 2024, so that was before the name change. It’s a nice story nonetheless, very patriotic.😉

Most likely, the jump in production is related to increased output from the new deepwater facilities we have been following.

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