Two weeks after an explosion and fire on a third-party pipeline shut in their natural gas processing complex in East Texas, DCP Midstream LLC and its master limited partnership DCP Midstream Partners LP said that they have partially restarted operations.

Production was temporarily shut in at the processing complex and their jointly owned residue gas delivery system following the Feb. 11 incident (see NGI, Feb. 16), which occurred just outside DCP Midstream’s property. The aboveground residue delivery system, known as the Carthage Hub, was damaged in the fire and remains partially shut in as a result of the 16-inch pipeline rupture.

“Our processing plants sustained some collateral damage in the fire, and we have been working to safely resume partial operations for our customers,” said Richard Cargile, group vice president, operations. “We are working expeditiously in a coordinated effort with the owner of the ruptured pipeline and other companies whose facilities were affected by the fire so we can quickly return both our process facilities and [the] hub to full operation.”

The DCP companies explained that the complex consists of five natural gas processing plants with a processing capacity of approximately 780 MMcf/d. The Carthage Hub has approximately 1.5 Bcf/d of delivery capacity.

The companies said Wednesday the complex began processing through one of the five plants and they expect to restore full processing capacities for the entire complex over the next 30 days. Residue gas will be redelivered into limited available pipeline interconnects while the Carthage Hub undergoes inspection and repairs.

The East Texas facilities are operated by DCP Midstream and owned 75% by DCP Midstream and 25% by DCP Midstream Partners. The plant interconnects with Gulf South Pipeline, Texas Gas Transmission, CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission, Lone Star Pipeline, Southern Natural Gas, Tejas Gas, Enterprise Products, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Texas Eastern Transmission and Texas Gas Gathering.

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