Key California oil giant on life support after Chevron makes crucial decision

Detailed summary

The company disclosed “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating after Chevron, the refinery that buys all of its oil, stopped taking deliveries.

A Houston-based independent upstream company that restarted oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast earlier this year is struggling to stay afloat.

The shares of Sable Offshore Corp. crashed to an all-time low Monday after it warned it could run out of money.

The stock fell 60.5% to 76 cents a share. It later recovered slightly but was still down 57.6%, Reuters reported. The drop followed Sable’s disclosure of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating.

Sable’s troubles began in early October when Chevron, the refinery that buys all of its oil, stopped taking deliveries.

In its Nov. 9, 2026 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Sable said the refinery was repairing and upgrading its storage tanks, with work expected to be finished quickly. But the pause lasted all month and is still going on, the company said.

“On Oct. 6, 2026, the Company’s single downstream purchaser of crude oil temporarily curtailed its purchases of the Company’s crude oil due to maintenance and upgrades to storage tanks at its refinery, which were expected to be resolved promptly,” the SEC filing said.

With nowhere to send its oil, Sable cut back production so its own storage tanks would not overflow.

In a press release the same day, the company said, “Crude oil sales were halted by our sole downstream crude purchaser in early October 2026 due to maintenance and upgrades to storage tanks at their refinery.”

Without regular sales, money has stopped coming in. Sable said it expects to be unable to pay its bills soon.

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