Trump to Invoke Emergency Law for California Oil Producer
March 12, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to invoke emergency law for Sable Offshore as it looks to restart production from a cluster of offshore platforms in California, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Shares of Sable rose 16.3% to $16.75 in afternoon trading.
Trump is preparing to summon authorities under the Defense Production Act to preempt state laws and ease permitting for Sable, the report added.
The planned order would also pave the way for renewed oil production off the southern California coast, in a bid to that would allow Trump to ease the global crude supply crunch spurred by his war with Iran, Bloomberg said in the report.
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has sent oil prices surging, making fuel more expensive for consumers in California, where gasoline prices were already increasing.
Fuel prices are a key political pressure point in California and Trump has been ramping up efforts to tackle rising fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections in November.
Sable Offshore and the White House Office did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
(Reuters - Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
