Sable Offshore experienced a critical new setback in its ongoing quest to restart oil production off the Gaviota Coast, this time in the form of a terse letter signed by California State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant, putting Sable on notice that the company had not repaired all the corroded portions of its damaged pipeline according to the specifications required by his office.
Absent this level of repair, Berlant notified Sable on October 22, its application to restart the vast oil and gas plant up the coast, its much storied pipeline, and the three offshore platforms it purchased from Exxon two years ago could not be processed. According to Berlant, Sable has failed to make the repairs according to the specifications included in a special state waiver the fire marshal issued last December that would allow Sable to deploy a method of corrosion control and management other than the one originally approved when the pipeline was first permitted in 1986. Because the system’s corrosion control system did not work as hoped, the pipeline sprung a serious rupture in May 2015, and the pipeline has not been operative since.
Sable shot back a quick response the following day, informing Berlant he got it wrong. “The OSFM (Office of the State Fire Marshal) conclusions are in error, ignore the remainder of the waivers, and are inconsistent with numerous discussions between OSFM and Sable,” the company said