Oct 24 Southern California Gas completed safety tests on more wells at its Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles, which shut in October 2015 following a massive methane leak, according to a report from the utility made public on Monday.
SoCalGas did not say when it would be ready to seek state regulatory approval to inject gas into the field.
Under state law, SoCalGas cannot inject fuel into the field until the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) approves the company's testing of the 114 wells at the facility to ensure their safety.
SoCalGas is owned by California energy company Sempra Energy . Aliso Canyon is the biggest of its four storage fields. It supplies gas to homes and businesses in Southern California, including power plants and refineries.
In its latest report to DOGGR, SoCalGas said 28 wells have passed all safety tests, five awaited test results and 81 were temporarily taken out of operation.
All wells must either pass all tests or be taken out of service before DOGGR can call a public meeting. Since DOGGR must give the public 15 days notice before a meeting, SoCalGas cannot start injecting gas into Aliso Canyon until some time in mid-November at the earliest.
In addition to DOGGR, the California Public Utilities Commission must also determine the field is safe to operate.
The PUC on Friday issued a checklist of safety evaluations it wants SoCalGas to complete before allowing the company to inject gas into Aliso Canyon. The list includes several tests and reports the company must file to monitor pressure in the well pipes.
After the state allows the company to inject gas into the field, SoCalGas has said it will continue testing wells that were temporarily sealed in an effort to bring them back into service.
The state required SoCalGas to keep 15 billion cubic feet of gas in the 86-bcf facility to minimize risk of gas shortages that could result in electricity outages.
The PUC in late September reduced the required minimum withdrawal capability SoCalGas must maintain from 420 million cubic feet per day to 207 mmcfd.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) on Friday estimated the Aliso Canyon leak emitted 109,000 metric tons of methane from October 2015 to February, roughly equivalent to carbon dioxide emissions released from burning over 1 billion gallons of gasoline.
CARB said SoCalGas will have to mitigate those carbon impacts.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Tom Brown)