One of the wildfires choking Southern California caused Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility to close operations at its largest underground natural gas storage facility, Aliso Canyon in the Santa Susana Mountains in the far northwest end of the suburban San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, about 35 miles from downtown. SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the nation.

With an overall capacity close to 100 Bcf, using a former oil and gas field similar to many that dot the greater Southern California region, Aliso Canyon was closed Monday as the Sesnon fire grew more intense (see Daily GPI, Oct. 15). It remained closed Wednesday, and a SoCalGas spokesperson said the utility would not speculate on when operations would be resumed.

SoCalGas plans to notify customers on its electronic information system when operations resume. The danger from the fire appeared to lessen late Tuesday when winds subsided, and the winds stayed down early Wednesday.

The Sempra utility’s three other underground storage operations — Honor Rancho, which is located closest to Aliso Canyon, farther north in Los Angeles County; Playa del Rey, near the Los Angeles International Airport; and Goleta, along the coast in San Barbara County — are all operating normally, the Sempra spokesperson said.

During last year’s wildfire siege in late October, the underground storage facilities remained unscathed by the many fires, as was also the case in October 2003, when utility electric systems were hit severely.

Collectively the Sempra utilities represent the largest natural gas distribution system in the nation, including one of the largest in-state transmission pipeline and underground storage operations, providing more than 130 Bcf of storage capacity. Aliso Canyon and Honor Rancho account for the vast bulk of the storage system.

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