TransCanada Says Blast-damaged Leach Natgas Pipe Back in Service on July 15
July 13 (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp's Columbia Gas Transmission expects the section of the Leach Xpress natural gas pipeline damaged in a blast in West Virginia in early June to return to service on July 15.
Its return, however, requires approval from federal pipeline safety regulators, Columbia said on Thursday in a notice to customers using the pipeline.
The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) this week gave Columbia 30 days to respond to a list of corrective actions the agency proposed to improve the safety of the Leach pipe.
Those actions included mechanical and metallurgical testing and enhanced surveillance and monitoring, among other things, according to the federal report made available on Thursday.
Since the June 7 blast, Columbia has identified six other points along the pipeline that PHMSA said are "areas of concern" based on soil conditions and steep slopes or indications of slips.
PHMSA has not identified the cause of the blast but said preliminary investigation suggests the failure was the result of ground movement that caused stress on a weld.
That blast resulted in the ejection of about 83 feet (25.3 meters) of 36-inch (91-centimeter) pipe from the ditch and the loss of 165 million cubic feet of natural gas, PHMSA said. The explosion was in a remote rural area and caused no injuries or evacuations.
The Leach shutdown forced producers using the line to find other pipes to ship gas out of the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
Alternative pipelines include Dominion Energy Inc's transmission system, Energy Transfer Partners LP's Rover, Tallgrass Energy LP's Rockies Express, Enbridge Inc's Texas Eastern Transmission and Kinder Morgan Inc's Tennessee Gas, according to analysts at S&P Global Platts.
Columbia said the blast could affect movement of about 1.3 billion cubic feet per day. One billion cubic feet of gas can fuel about five million U.S. homes for a day.
Overall output in the Appalachian region, however, was little changed as producers, like Range Resources Corp and Southwestern Energy Co, found other pipes to ship their gas.
Appalachian output rose from 27.5 bcfd before the blast to as high as 28.1 bcfd on Thursday, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The 1.5-bcfd Leach pipeline in West Virginia and Ohio, which entered full service at the start of 2018, transports Marcellus and Utica shale gas to consumers in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Dan Grebler)
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies On Getting Smaller
- Iran Says Oil Market Is Too Tight For US Zero Exports Target
- China's Squeezed 'Teapots' Eye Petchem Path To Riches
- Baker Hughes: US Drillers Add Oil Rigs For Second Week In Three
- Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, But No Mention Of New Funds
- G7 Weighs Russia Oil Price Cap
- Exxon Considers Developing Hydrogen, Ammonia Production In Norway
- Libya Says It May Suspend Oil Exports from Key Terminals
- WTI and Henry Hub Appear Due for a Technical Correction
- Analysts Talk Biden Gasoline Tax Holiday
- Petrobras Clears Sale Of Several Espirito Santo Assets
- Cheniere Green Lights FID For Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project
- Guinea-Conakry Hoping To Unlock O&G Potential With 22 Block Tender
- Targa Sells $1.25B Senior Notes To Fund Lucid Acquisition
- USA Adds 13 Rigs
- USA Navy and Iran Corps Clash in Strait of Hormuz
- Top Headlines: USA Navy and Iran Corps Clash in Strait of Hormuz and More
- Russian Oil Disappears as Tankers Go Dark
- USA Energy Sec Leads Meeting with 7 Major Oil Companies
- USA Refinery Capacity Drops
- Oil and Gas Lease Sales in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico Pushed Back
- New Mexico Oil Refinery Cost Doubles
- $150 Oil Could Still Happen. Here's How.
- Russian Oil Isn't Dead Yet
- G7 Weighs Russia Oil Price Cap
- USA Navy and Iran Corps Clash in Strait of Hormuz
- Oil Industry Responds to Biden Letter
- Rapidly Decaying Supertanker Could Explode at Any Time
- Oil Nosedives on Fed Inflation Actions
- Top Headlines: USA Navy and Iran Corps Clash in Strait of Hormuz and More
- Top Headlines: Oil Industry Responds to Biden Letter and More
- Iran Seizes 2 Greek Tankers
- Too Early To Speculate on ExxonMobil Refinery Fire Cause
- Fitch Solutions Reveals Latest Oil Price Forecast
- ExxonMobil Made More Money Than God This Year