U.S. President Donald Trump [EPA = Yonhap News]

The Donald Trump administration is preparing to invoke the "Defense Production Act" to reopen offshore oil fields in California, Bloomberg News reported on the 11th (local time).

This means the Defense Production Act will be used as a legal basis to allow the "Santa Ynez Unit" project, promoted by oil and gas developer Sable Offshore. The Trump administration believes this will nullify the permitting barriers imposed by California state authorities. The project's progress has been stalled by California's regulatory bodies.

Previously, last year, President Trump issued an executive order utilizing the Defense Production Act to revitalize domestic coal mining, which had been suppressed under the previous Joe Biden administration.

The project plans to transport crude oil and natural gas produced from three offshore platforms in California's Santa Barbara Channel via subsea pipelines to onshore processing facilities, and then send these products to refineries through onshore pipelines.

This is an attempt to resume crude oil and gas production, which has been suspended since a 2015 accident where approximately 140,000 gallons of crude oil spilled due to an onshore pipeline rupture. The accident at the time caused beach contamination and strong opposition from state government, environmental groups, and local residents, leading state regulatory authorities to prohibit its restart to this day.

In response, Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, countered, "If Trump believes he can nullify California law and federal court orders with a single stroke of a pen, we look forward to seeing what that very federal court he is challenging has to say."

If the Santa Ynez project begins, it will produce approximately 45,000 to 55,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Bloomberg observed this as an attempt to alleviate the global crude oil supply shortage triggered by the war with Iran, but assessed that the likelihood of achieving actual results is low.