Southern CaliforniaGas Co. will follow a three-phase framework to determine if the AlisoCanyon storage facility is safe to put back online and is in compliance with newlyissued regulations, the company said in an April 7 news release.

The California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources,or DOGGR, safety review testing regime for the Aliso Canyon facility, developedwith the U.S. Department of Energy's national labs, requires "that each ofthe active injection wells in the Aliso Canyon Storage facility either pass a thoroughbattery of tests in order to resume gas injection or be taken out of operation andisolated from the underground gas reservoir."

First, every active well at the Aliso Canyon storage facilitywill be subjected to diagnostic noise and temperature testing, the results of whichwill be reviewed and confirmed by the DOGGR. Then, based on the results of the diagnosticstesting, the wells will either be temporarily taken offline and isolated from theunderground reservoir or undergo a battery of four additional diagnostic tests todetermine if they are safe to operate. Finally, after every well hassuccessfully completed the first two phases, the DOGGR and the California PublicUtilities Commission executive director will determine whether the field can besafely put back into operation.

"[W]e have started work that should allow us to partiallyrestore operations at the field by the end of the summer," SoCalGas COO BretLane said in a statement.

Since Oct. 25, 2015, no natural gas has been injected into theAliso Canyon storage facility, and all injection activity into the facility remainssuspended until SoCalGas complies with DOGGR's safety review testing regime, therelease said. Withdrawals from the facility were also stopped at the direction ofthe California PUC unless neededto meet energy reliability requirements.