Santa Barbara County successfully decommissions idle crude oil pipeline

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Planning & Development and General Services Departments successfully decommissioned 'Line 96', a crude oil pipeline formerly operated by Venoco Inc.

Line 96 has been preserved in an idle status since September of 2017 following the May 2015 rupture of Line 901, operated by Plains All American Pipeline, which spilled around 142,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean near Refugio State Beach.

Oil still inside Line 901 when it was placed in idle status was flushed out using water, and approximately 1,685 barrels of water diluted with corrosion inhibitor and biocide remained inside of the pipeline until July of 2023 detail Santa Barbara County.

After the bankruptcy of Venoco Inc. in 2017, Santa Barbara County voluntarily assumed responsibility for overseeing the decommissioning of the pipeline.

The County of Santa Barbara obtained a $550,000 grant from the California Department of Toxic Substances to fund abandonment work through their contractual partners, including Beacon West Consulting.

The six-inch diameter pipeline was approximately nine miles in length and extended from the Ellwood Onshore Facility near the Bacara Hotel to a tie-in point at the Plains All American Pipeline near Las Flores Canyon on the Gaviota Coast.

Decommissioning was completed in July of 2023.

The County of Santa Barbara details that the project was completed with no accidents, no spill incidents, and in compliance with applicable State requirements.