One more Aliso Canyon well passed state-ordered tests this week, bringing to 33 the total number of wells that SoCal Gas hopes to return to service next year pending regulatory approval.
SoCal has continued safety testing on the 114 wells at the Aliso Canyon storage site near Los Angeles while it works to answer regulator's questions related to its 1 November request to resume partial operations at its largest gas storage field near Los Angeles.
Aliso Canyon is the site of last year's massive gas leak that allowed nearly 5 Bcf of gas to escape. SoCal had hoped to start rebuilding depleted reserves at Aliso Canyon in October to meet winter gas demand which grows significantly to heat homes and businesses as well as to produce electricity at peak times when renewable generation is low.
The field is unlikely to return to partial service before early spring, four to six months later than SoCal officials had hoped. The California Department of Conservation's division of oil, gas and geothermal resources (DOGGR) said it would not hold a public meeting, required by SB 380, until early 2017 after residents of the Porter Ranch neighborhood who were sickened by leaking gas asked for a delay.
January tends to be California's second-coldest month, after December, with some 495 population-weighted heating degree days (HDDs), according to the National Weather Service.
SoCal has been managing to meet growing gas demand in December by issuing 16 operational flow orders to balance daily pipeline receipts and stored gas from its three remaining storage sites: Honor Rancho, La Goleta and Playa del Rey.
Since 1 December, SoCal has withdrawn 3.9 Bcf (110mn m³) from its three storage fields, cutting its gas stockpile as low as 55.9 Bcf on 27 December. SoCal was able to inject gas into its available storage sites on six days in December.
The ongoing state-ordered moratorium on gas injection at the SoCal Gas' field jeopardizes the gas supply for as much as 20,000MW of gas-fired generation across southern California this winter.
On 18 December, SoCal issued a systemwide curtailment watch for large industrial customers, including power generators and refiners, along with a public conservation call. A winter storm spreading across the US southwest threatened to interrupt gas supplies from outside the state at the same time falling temperatures across southern California would boost demand for home heating.
SoCal lifted both advisories two days later without tapping gas from Aliso Canyon.
According to a winter outlook from California state agencies, SoCal will not be able to meet the potential 5.2 Bcf/d of gas demand on very cold days without pulling gas from Aliso Canyon.
