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 planned to extract ourselves out of the Reserve through the permanent abandonment of our wells. We have kept CDFW informed and updated on these plans. CDFW is proposing their own large-scale restoration project on the Reserve (see Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project). 

Our well abandonment plans are separate and independent from CDFW’s plans. 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.

As part of our plans, our local community may observe construction activities and large equipment operating within the Reserve. While all the wells within the Reserve are planned for abandonment, a few of these wells must first be replaced (i.e., redrilled) to maintain sufficient monitoring of the underground storage zone, as required by CalGEM. Rest assured, we are not expanding our infrastructure. Rather, our plans 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.
• Abandon all active wells that lie within the Reserve. This process will involve bringing in a workover rig to remove the downhole piping, plugging the wells with cement, and removing the well cellars, exposed piping, rig anchors, concrete pads, 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.
• Replace (i.e., redrill) approximately five (5) monitoring wells on our property, outside of the Reserve footprint. 
• Perform safety inspections and repairs on existing wells, as necessary, until abandonments are completed. 
• Implement a broad range of protection measures designed to avoid or minimize impacts to the environment, including obtaining the services of qualified biologists and archaeologists to train work crews and to protect sensitive resources.