SoCalGas Agrees to $1.8B Settlement for Aliso Canyon Methane Leak

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has agreed to pay up to $1.8 billion in three settlement agreements stemming from the country’s largest ever methane leak in 2015 at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.*

The agreements announced Monday “are expected to resolve substantially all material civil litigation against SoCalGas” related to the incident, the Sempra Energy subsidiary said.

SoCalGas expects to record an after-tax charge of roughly $1.1 billion as a result of the settlements, the company said, noting that the costs would not be borne by ratepayers.

The first agreement is subject to obtaining roughly 97% participation from the about 36,000 individual plaintiffs, as well as court approval and other conditions, the company said.

Plaintiffs in the...