California oil driller that sold no crude paid CEO $76 million

By Nathan Risser | Bloomberg

The CEO of California oil driller Sable Offshore Corp. was awarded a $76 million pay package in 2025, making him one of the highest paid oil and gas industry leaders in the US even as his company sold no crude.

The bulk of Jim Flores’s compensation was from more than $69 million in stock awards, in addition to a $1.3 million salary and $3.9 million bonus, according to a Thursday filing to federal regulators. Flores earned $1.7 million in 2024 and received no stock awards.

Also see: Profit for the biggest US oil companies declined in the first quarter, but only on paper

That meant Houston-based Sable’s CEO was paid more than the leaders of the two biggest US oil firms during a rocky year for the company. Sable’s shares fell 61% in 2025 as its years long effort to restart oil production at a cluster of rigs off the coast of California was stymied by local and state-level opposition. The company was also probed by federal investigators following a report from Hunterbrook Media that Sable selectively disclosed information to investors, including pro golfer Phil Mickelson.

Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil, earned $32 million in 2025. Chevron Corp.’s Mike Wirth earned $26.8 million the same year. The two companies pumped almost 9 million barrels of oil a day over the course of the year.

Sable is now producing and selling some 50,000 barrels of oil daily after President Donald Trump invoked a war-time law in March and instructed the company to start pumping, overriding opposition from the state of California.

The company paid $540,000 to Holland & Knight, a law firm with close ties to the White House, in the first three months of 2026, during which time Trump issued the Cold War-era powers to clear the way for production.

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