Newsom Announces Changes to Oil & Gas Laws, New Conservation Director & Oil & Gas Supervisor
While the focus of the week has been the wind event and PSPS by the utilities, Governor Newsom announced changes to the oil and gas industry on Saturday, Oct. 12.
DOGGR: State Fines Chevron $2.7 Million for Kern County Spill
California's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) announced today that it levied a $2.7 million fine on Chevron for illegally allowing releases of large amounts of oil at Cymric Oil Field.
CPUC/DOGGR: Update on the SoCal Gas Pipeline Work
Capacity on the SoCal Gas lines is expected to drop for the foreseeable future. This week SoCal Gas is expected to start working on Line 4000 which extends from East of Barstow to Cajon. The company plans for the line to be out of commission for two months as it makes repairs. Based on the time it is taking to make other repairs, it looks like it may take longer than scheduled. SoCal Gas has pushed back the estimated return-to-service date for Line 235-2 yet again. The line which runs approximately 50 miles between Victorville to east of Barstow, ruptured [...]
Newsom Tours Chevron Spill, Legislature May Seek Fracking Moratorium
Governor Newsom said this week (7/24) that he is encouraged by Chevron’s efforts to clean up what has turned into the state’s largest oil spill in decades. About 970,000 gallons have leaked from the ground at an oilfield west of Bakersfield over the last couple of months; about one-third of it is oil and the other two-thirds water. “I’m seeing progress,” Newsom said on a visit to the site, where the oil and water are contained in a dry desert creek bed. The leaks are known as surface expressions, which can be caused by injecting steam into the ground. Chevron [...]
CPUC/DOGGR: Commission Changes Withdrawal Rules for Aliso Canyon
The CPUC this week approved a new withdrawal protocol for SoCal Gas’ Aliso Canyon storage facility. SoCal Gas can now withdraw natural gas from Aliso Canyon as long as it is for improving energy reliability and minimizing price volatility. This is a change from the prior protocol that allowed SoCal Gas’ Aliso Canyon to only be used as an “asset of last resort.”
DOGGR/CPUC: SoCal Gas Pipeline Woes Continue
This week, SoCal Gas announced that it would take longer to reopen one of its gas lines. Line 235-2, which runs approximately 50 miles between Victorville to east of Barstow, ruptured on October 1, 2017 and has been closed ever since. The pipeline is a 1957 vintage and appeared close to reopening. However, additional leaks were found recently, delaying the reopening of the gas line to late July at the earliest. This is not the only gas line facing problems. Two other gas lines, Line 3000 and Line 4000, have had reduced capacity for over a year now. SoCal Gas [...]