This has been a big week for big business deals. Among the biggest of all, ExxonMobil announced it was selling its entire Santa Ynez Unit to a Canadian-based energy company, Sable Offshore Corporation. That company is a consortium of seven companies, of which ExxonMobil is the largest with a 50 percent share.
The Santa Ynez Unit dates back to the 1970s when Exxon began construction on the first of three offshore oil platforms in federal waters off the coast of Gaviota. Involved in this sale are the three platforms — Heritage, Harmony, and Hondo — 114 wells, the onshore oil and gas processing plant at Las Flores Canyon, and 100 percent of the shares of the Pacific Offshore Pipeline Company and Pacific Pipeline Company. The terms of the sale are confidential.
“The sale advances ExxonMobil’s focused investment strategy and highlights our willingness to divest assets to those who can derive greater value,” said company spokesperson Meaghan Macdonald in an e-mail exchange. Macdonald said the sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 pending regulatory approvals.