Sable Offshore sinks as California judge blocks Santa Ynez oil pipeline restart

[Gas Pipeline In Front Of The Oil Pump]
imaginima/iStock via Getty Images

Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOC]) -25.4% post-market Tuesday after a California judge sided with the state government and tentatively ruled against [https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/california-judge-blocks-efforts-restart-santa-ynez-oil-pipeline-2025-10-14/] the company's request to restart a pipeline that pulls crude from the Santa Ynez offshore oil project, Reuters reported.

The tentative ruling from the Superior Court for Santa Barbara County marks a major setback for Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOC]), whose entire business is focused on the Santa Ynez project.

In May [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4450031-sable-offshore-restarts-santa-ynez-production-sees-oil-sales-from-las-flores-pipeline-in-july], the company restarted production from one of the three offshore platforms in the project, nearly a decade after it was shut due to an oil spill under previous owner Exxon.

Sable (SOC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOC]) said recently it would pursue a parallel path approach [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4500251-sable-offshore-to-pursue-alternative-oil-offtake-strategy-in-parallel-with-pipeline-approval] to first oil sales in California to include the leasing of an offshore storage and treating vessel in addition to its pursuit of a restart of the Las Flores pipeline system to sell oil; last week, it said delays in the Las Flores restart would make it fully pivot to using tankers to shuttle crude from Santa Ynez instead of the pipeline.

MORE ON SABLE OFFSHORE

* Sable Offshore: Risky, But Deeply Discounted [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4822167-sable-offshore-risky-but-deeply-discounted]
* Sable Offshore: Stretched Valuation Not Justified By Risk Or Future EBITDA - Avoid [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4814490-sable-offshore-stock-stretched-valuation-not-justified-by-risk-future-ebitda-avoid]
* Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating on Sable Offshore [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOC/ratings/quant-ratings]