Chevron gives Gavin Newsom the middle finger
Chevron has announced plans to purchase oil from Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., a development that comes amid a legal dispute between California and the Trump administration.
The energy giant intends to buy an initial 20,000 barrels per day from offshore facilities near Santa Barbara. This comes just weeks after federal officials approved the restart of production at the sites, which had been offline since 2015 due to environmental opposition.
“We’re going to run Sable’s crude at El Segundo in April,” said Chevron executive Andy Walz. The refinery, located near Los Angeles, can process about 269,000 barrels of oil daily and will handle the new supply. Sable resumed production on March 16, sending oil through the region’s controversial pipeline for the first time in a decade.
The production restart followed an executive order from President Donald Trump invoking the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law that allows the federal government to expedite production of key materials, including oil and gas.
California immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the order. The state argues that it “illegally asserts exclusive jurisdiction over two California onshore oil pipelines” and prioritizes “donors over our people and communities.”
Attorney General Rob Bonta released a statement saying, “The Attorney General is seeking to halt Sable’s unlawful restart of California’s onshore oil pipelines that are subject to State regulation and oversight. California is unwavering in our commitment to protect our coastline and our public health. We’re looking forward to vigorously litigating our case in court.”
California consistently has some of the highest gas prices in the country, often exceeding the national average by more than $2 per gallon. Analysts attribute this in part to declining local production and dependence on imported crude.
Federal officials have described Sable’s restart as a measure to reduce “supply disruption risks” that have left both parts of California and U.S. military operations more reliant on foreign oil.
Sable’s output could eventually rise to between 45,000 and 55,000 barrels per day. While this is small compared to the more than 20 million barrels consumed daily across the United States, it represents a notable increase for California, whose oil production has fallen steadily over decades—from roughly 1.1 million barrels per day in 1986 to around 246,000 barrels per day in late 2025, a decline of about 77 percent.
“We’re taking American crude oil, putting it in American pipelines, running an American refinery and selling those products to American motorists — and it’s going to be cheaper than importing,” Walz said, calling the Sable arrangement “a good thing for America.”
Critics point to Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies, including a 2023 refinery price-control law, as factors contributing to refinery closures and increased reliance on imported oil. The U.S. Oil and Gas Association noted that California imports 63 percent of its crude, despite holding at least 1.7 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Chevron has previously clashed with Newsom. Earlier this month, the company warned that the state could face substantial job losses and higher fuel prices if proposed changes to the cap-and-trade program move forward, calling the measures “misguided” and cautioning they could “cripple” remaining refineries.
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