Phil Mickelson-Touted Sable Struggles to Advance Oil Project (2)

One of the most compelling corporate dramas in the US oil industry right now isn’t playing out in the Permian Basin or Alaska’s North Slope but against the unlikely backdrop of tony Santa Barbara, California — with a walk-on part from a famous professional golfer.

Sable Offshore Corp. is trying to revive some former Exxon Mobil Corp. offshore fields that hold hundreds of millions of barrels of crude in a state prone to chronic energy crunches.

That plan is looking increasingly precarious. In recent days, Sable was denied a permit by the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors, and on Monday ...