OREANDA-NEWS. November 23, 2016. California regulators' key approval for SoCal Gas to inject natural gas into the Aliso Canyon storage field may slip into early 2017 after local residents requested a delay.

The potential delay could add reliability risk and price volatility to US west coast gas and power markets this winter.

After performing a battery of safety tests and reworking wells at the Aliso Canyon site in Los Angeles County, SoCal sought regulatory authority on 1 November to resume partial operations.

Aliso Canyon is the site of last year's massive gas leak 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.

Residents of the Porter Ranch neighborhood who were sickened by leaking gas and uprooted from their homes have asked regulators to delay until 2017 a required public meeting to be held by the California Department of Conservation's division of oil, gas and geothermal resources (DOGGR) and the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

"Our community was in the middle of the disaster during the last holiday season and people had to drop what they were doing and relocate to hotels," said Issam Najm, president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council.

The council has not received a response to its request.

December tends to be California's coldest month, with some 516 population-weighted heating degree days (HDDs), followed closely by January with 495 HDDs, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

According to a report from California state agencies, SoCal will not be able to meet an expected 5.2 Bcf/d of gas demand on very cold days without pulling gas from Aliso Canyon. With only 15 Bcf in working gas remaining, the prospect increases that gas shortages could lead to curtailment of gas-fired power plants in southern California.

Since 2012, SoCal has pulled gas from Aliso Canyon on a daily basis in December and January to meet heating demand for homes and to supply power plants and refineries across southern California, according to state reports.

Thirty of Aliso Canyon's 114 wells have passed state-ordered tests while a majority are expected to be taken out of service to be tested later.

Meanwhile, California gas buyers are hoping for mild winter weather.

SoCal's increased use of operational flow orders over the summer made it harder for large users to buy gas ahead of the winter, senior analyst Dennis Burke of Long Beach Gas & Oil said at an industry forum last month in Denver. Without sufficient gas in storage, the utility may be forced to purchase more gas on the spot market this winter, Burke said.

"We have to provide for reliability on the system and we do the best we can," said Brent Mischler, a senior gas trader for SoCal. "In some of the (winter) scenarios, it could be difficult."

The Pacific states have 328 Bcf in storage, 14pc below 2015 and 11pc below the five-year average, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

SoCal's formal request to resume injecting gas at Aliso Canyon is only one step to satisfy legislative and regulatory requirements. A DOGGR spokesman said some information SoCal has submitted is under review or being clarified. The public meeting and confirmation of the safety review would signal that gas injection could begin with a matter of days.

The DOGGR spokesman could not say when the public meeting might be scheduled. The PUC did not respond to a question about the meeting schedule.

Porter Ranch residents are not the only ones pushing to delay Aliso Canyon's return.

The Los Angeles County board of supervisors recently voted to urge elected officials to prohibit gas injection at Aliso Canyon until more is known about the leak's cause and for a study to determine the feasibility of minimizing or reducing reliance on the field. Los Angeles school officials have also called for the site to be closed.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce wants regulators to allow SoCal to resume gas injections "as quickly and safely as possible" once SoCal has met all state requirements, said chamber president Gary Toebben in a letter.