Well Abandonments in the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve

The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (Reserve) is comprised of approximately 600 acres of land in Los Angeles County. The Reserve is bordered by the communities of Westchester, Marina del Rey, and Playa Vista and contains multiple underground natural gas storage wells associated with SoCalGas’ Playa del Rey (PDR) Natural Gas Storage Facility. 

The State of California, acting through its Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), owns the Reserve property, subject to our rights and any other easements or other matters of record. We retain our mineral and gas storage rights, along with surface access rights to maintain and operate our infrastructure and appurtenances within the Reserve. We routinely communicate our planned operations with CDFW staff to ensure safety and maintain security. 

We have long desired to extract ourselves out of the Reserve through the permanent abandonment of our wells. We have kept CDFW informed and updated on our projects. CDFW is proposing its own separate, largescale restoration project on the Reserve (see Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project). 

Our well abandonment projects are separate and independent from CDFW’s project. That is, we will pursue well abandonments based on our own priorities and operational needs, or at the direction of the California Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), the agency responsible for overseeing our well operations, independent of CDFW’s management of the Reserve.

During our abandonment operations, our local community may observe construction activities and large equipment operating within the Reserve. While all the wells within the Reserve are being considered for abandonment, 2-3 of the monitoring wells must first be replaced (i.e., redrilled from SoCalGas' main property
outside of the Reserve) to maintain sufficient monitoring of the underground storage zone, as required by CalGEM. Rest assured, we are not expanding our infrastructure. Rather, the well abandonments that we complete will ultimately result in a decrease in the total number of wells associated with our PDR facility.


Plan Details 

• Coordinate with multiple regulatory agencies, including CalGEM, CDFW, and the California Coastal Commission, and obtain all required permits.
• Bring in a workover rig to remove the downhole piping, plug the well with cement, and remove the well cellar, exposed piping, rig anchors, concrete pads, any fencing, and other related well appurtenances.
• Following the completion of a well abandonment, we will disperse a native seed mix comprised of species expected to complement the restoration work planned by CDFW under their proposed Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project.
• Continue to perform safety inspections and repairs, as necessary, until the well is abandoned.
• Include various project design features to further minimize impacts to the environment, including obtaining the services of qualified biologists and archaeologists to train work crews and to protect sensitive resources.