The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission on June 14, 2023 approved ExxonMobil’s request to transfer ownership of the pipelines that ruptured in the 2015 Refugio oil spill. Pacific Pipeline Company, an Exxon subsidiary, purchased Lines 901 and 903 from Plains All American Pipeline Company in October 2022. [Update: The approval was appealed on June 21, 2023.]
The Planning Commission approved the transfer of ownership from Plains to Exxon-subsidiary Pacific Pipeline Co. It also approved a change of guarantor to ExxonMobil Corp. and a change of operator to an Exxon pipeline subsidiary.
Pacific Pipeline Company filed an initial application for an ownership change and temporary operatorship in November 2022. The Planning & Development Department staff approved the application.
Pacific Pipeline Company registered the 122 miles of pipelines as the Las Flores Pipeline System under California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) identifiers CA-324 (formerly 901), CA-325A (formerly 903 Gaviota to Sisquoc), and CA-325B (formerly 903 Sisquoc to Pentland).
Environmentalists opposed the transfer with concerns that a third company, Sable Offshore Corp., would purchase the pipeline and restart oil production and pipeline operations.