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Organization, Business Operations, and Going Concern
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization, Business Operations, and Going Concern
Note 1 — Organization, Business Operations, and Going Concern

Organization and General

Sable Offshore Corp. ("Sable," the “Company” or "we") (formerly known as Flame Acquisition Corp. or "Flame") is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Flame was initially formed as a special purpose acquisition company for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

On November 2, 2022, the Company entered into an agreement and plan of merger, dated as of November 2, 2022 (as amended, supplemented, or otherwise modified from time to time, the “Merger Agreement”), with Sable Offshore Corp., a Texas corporation (“SOC”), and Sable Offshore Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and the parent company of SOC (“Holdco” and, together with SOC, “Legacy Sable”). Pursuant to the the Merger Agreement, on February 14, 2024, (i) Holdco merged with and into Flame, with Flame surviving such merger (the “Holdco Merger”) and (ii) Legacy Sable merged with and into Flame, with Flame surviving such merger (the “SOC Merger” and, together with the Holdco Merger, the “Mergers” and, along with the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Merger”).

On November 1, 2022 (as amended on June 13, 2023 and December 15, 2023), SOC, entered into a purchase and sale agreement (the "Sable-EM Purchase Agreement") with Exxon Mobil Corporation ("Exxon") and Mobil Pacific Pipeline Company ("MPPC," and together with Exxon, "EM") pursuant to which SOC agreed to acquire from EM certain assets constituting the Santa Ynez field in Federal waters offshore California ("SYU") and associated onshore processing and pipeline assets (such “Assets,” as defined in the Sable-EM Purchase Agreement, collectively the “SYU Assets”).

On February 14, 2024 (the “Closing Date”), the Company consummated the Merger and related transactions (the "Business Combination") contemplated by the Merger Agreement, following which Flame was renamed “Sable Offshore Corp.”. Pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Sable-EM Purchase Agreement, the transactions contemplated by the Sable-EM Purchase Agreement were also consummated on February 14, 2024 ("Sable-EM Closing Date"), immediately after the Business Combination, as a result of which Sable purchased the SYU Assets, effective as of January 1, 2022. On February 15, 2024, Sable’s shares of Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (“Common Stock”) and warrants to purchase Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (the “Public Warrants”) began trading on NYSE under the symbols, “SOC” and “SOC.WS,” respectively (refer to Note 3 — Acquisition for additional details).

On the Closing Date, the Company issued 44,024,910 shares of Common Stock of the Company, at a price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $440.2 million (the "First PIPE Investment"). The shares of Common Stock issued in the First PIPE Investment were offered in a private placement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Upon the closing of the Business Combination, an associated marketing fee of $10.1 million was paid in full, and was recognized as an offset to the proceeds from the First PIPE Investment within Additional paid-in capital in the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of stockholders' equity (deficit)/net parent investment as of September 30, 2024 (Successor).

On September 26, 2024, the Company issued 7,500,000 shares of Common Stock of the Company, at a price of $20.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $150.0 million (the "Second PIPE Investment"). The shares of Common Stock issued in the Second PIPE Investment were offered in a private placement under the Securities Act. Upon the closing of the Second PIPE Investment, an associated marketing fee and legal fees of approximately $7.5 million was accrued in full, and was recognized as an offset to the proceeds from the Second PIPE Investment within Additional paid-in capital in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet and statement of stockholders' equity (deficit)/net parent investment as of September 30, 2024 (Successor).

As of September 30, 2024, warrant holders had exercised 6,315,977 Warrants for 6,315,977 shares of Common Stock resulting in approximately $72.5 million in cash proceeds to the Company. On October 3, 2024, Sable issued a press release announcing the redemption of all of its outstanding Public Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock that were issued under the Warrant Agreement, as part of the units sold in the Company IPO. Refer to Note 7 — Warrants for additional details regarding the warrant exercises.
Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise requires, references to (i) the “Company,” “Sable,” “we,” “us,” or “our” are to Sable Offshore Corp., a Delaware corporation, and its consolidated subsidiaries, following the Business Combination, (ii) “Flame” refers to Flame Acquisition Corp. prior to the Business Combination, and (iii) the “Pipelines” are to Pipeline Segments 324/325 (formally known as Pipeline Segments 901/903) and the other “324/325 Assets” (formally known as "901/903 Assets" and as defined in the Sable-EM Purchase Agreement).

For the purposes of the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, periods on or before February 13, 2024 reflect the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of SYU prior to the Business Combination, referred to herein as the “Predecessor,” and periods beginning on or after February 14, 2024 reflect the financial position, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as a result of the Business Combination, referred to herein as the “Successor”.

Going Concern

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a basis that assumes the Company will continue as a going concern. The Company has experienced losses from operations and has negative cash flows from operations. As of September 30, 2024, the Successor reported unrestricted cash of $288.2 million and an accumulated deficit of $682.1 million. The Company expects to continue to incur losses until we can restart production of the SYU Assets.

Following the Closing Date and through September 30, 2024, management has addressed capital funding needs with the First PIPE Investment, the consummation of the Business Combination, the Second PIPE Investment, and proceeds from the exercise of warrants (refer to Note 7 — Warrants for additional details regarding the warrant exercises). Management believes the Company has sufficient capital to maintain operations and complete the repairs necessary to restart production of the SYU Assets. However, the Company’s plans for production restart are contingent upon approvals from federal, state and local regulators. Additionally, if the Company’s estimates of the costs of restarting production are less than the actual amounts necessary to do so, the Company may have insufficient funds available to operate its business prior to first production and will need to raise additional capital. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, among other things, reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all.

Due to the remaining regulatory approvals necessary to restart production, along with the timing of ongoing construction repair efforts, substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements included in this Quarterly Report do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that could be necessary if the Company is unable to continue as a going concern.

Risks and Uncertainties

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into federal law. The IR Act provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases of stock by publicly traded U.S. domestic corporations and certain U.S. domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations occurring on or after January 1, 2023 as Section 4501 of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Stock Buyback Tax"). The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its shareholders from whom shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases made during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “U.S. Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the excise tax.

The Company has accrued an excise tax payable of $2.3 million relating to redemptions of Common Stock prior to the Business Combination, which is recorded as a liability on our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2024 (Successor).

On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Treasury issued regulations (the "Final Procedural Regulations") finalizing proposed rules regarding the reporting and payment of the non-deductible 1% Stock Buyback Tax. Under the Final Procedural
Regulations, the deadline for reporting, and paying, the Stock Buyback Tax for taxable years ending after December 31, 2022, and on or before June 28, 2024, was October 31, 2024. On October 30, 2024, the $2.3 million excise tax was paid in full.