Well responsible for Porter Ranch gas leak officially 'killed'

The well is dead.

Official word the methane-spewing well -- otherwise known as Standard Sesnon 25 -- in Southe Califoia Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon storage facility above Porter Ranch is sealed came Thursday moing from the Califoia Department of Conservation’s Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources on the 118th day of the massive natural gas leak – called the largest in U.S. history.

The leak was discovered on Oct. 23 and 111 days later a crew from well-control experts Boots & Coots was able to stop it by pumping in mud and fluids via a relief well.

• Interactive: Timeline of events involving the Porter Ranch gas leak

Cement was then pumped into the bottom of SS-25 and DOGGR officials confirmed the kill after studying the results of five tests.

“After independently reviewing multiple tests on the leaking well — including temperature tests, noise tests and cement-bond test — we have confirmed that the Standard Sesnon 25 well at the Aliso Canyon Storage Field is no longer leaking and the well is sealed,” said Jason Marshall, chief deputy director of the Califoia Department of Conservation.

The DOC on Wednesday ordered that the gas company conduct a series of five tests on the 114 wells in the sandstone storage chamber before gas injection can resume.

Permanently plugging the well took 118 days. While leaking, it spewed an estimated 94,067 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere, according the Califoia Air Resources Board.

The accident is being investigated by Frisco, Texas-based Blade Energy Partners. They have been on site since late January and have unfettered access to the well sites and all documents and material, including the ruptured well casing from which the gas was leaking.

But the fight over Aliso Canyon will not end with the well being plugged and taken out of service.

• Read More: Complete coverage of the Porter Ranch gas leak

The next battle will be over whether the storage facility should be closed and whether these kinds of installations should be regulated by the federal govement.

The activist group Save Porter Ranch has been demanding the field be shut down.

That might be a tough case to make.

But Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and a Porter Ranch resident, said this week that might be problematic because it serves more that 21 million customers over a large area of Southe Califoia.

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As of Feb. 10 , there were 6,400 households that voluntarily fled the area living in temporary housing. Now, people who relocated from the area to stay in short-term quarters like hotels have eight days to retu home. Households that were placed in rental homes or apartments can stay there until their lease ends, the company has said.

SoCalGas was slow to get word of the leak out to residents, which outraged many.

In early December Los Angeles City Attoey Mike Feuer sued the city over the leak, one of many that were filed against the company. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, SoCalGas parent company San Diego-based Sempra Energy said as of Feb. 10 there had been 67 lawsuits lodged against the company.

And so far the monetary loss is huge.

• Interactive: How much methane gas has been released due to the Porter Ranch gas leak?

“The company’s total costs consisting of amounts paid and forecasted to be paid to address the leak and mitigate certain environmental and community impacts, including temporary relocation, drilling relief wells, attempts to stop or mitigate the emissions, and the value of lost gas are estimated to be between $250 million and $300 million,” Sempra said in the filing.

The company said that it has a $1 billion insurance policy to cover leak-related costs.

Shortly after the leak was discovered SoCalGas agreed to pay relocation expenses for residents who said they were suffering ill effects from the rotten egg odor of the compound mixed with the natural gas to give it its distinct smell as a safety measure.

The company reimbursed them up to $7,000 a month, putting families up in rental homes, apartments and hotels while they tried to stop the leak. It also installed air purification systems in resents’ homes, weather proofed them had them cleaned.

Sherman and Steve Knight, R-Antelope Valley, have now called for federal regulation of the natural gas storage business and more stringent rules for monitoring and inspecting storage fields like Aliso Canyon.

SS 25 was a “vintage well” that began drilling for oil in 1953. A safety valve at the bottom on the 8,600 foot deep well was removed in 1979 and never replaced.

The gas company has operated Aliso Canyon, the biggest storage west of the Mississippi River, since 1974.

It can hold 86 billion cubic feet of natural gas and contained about 77 billion cubic feet when the leak was discovered. The company was subsequently ordered to draw out as much gas as possible as fast as possible.

The Califoia Public Utilities Commission ordered the company to halt withdrawals in late January to preserve the integrity of the field. By that time it contained about 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas, the company said.

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