Bison Pipeline reported that the section of pipe damaged in a July 20 rupture had been repaired, and it was beginning inline inspections Thursday as part of the restoration plan, allowing it to accept up to 200,000 Dth/d of nominations for Friday’s gas day.

Bison, TransCanada Corp.’s new natural gas transmission pipeline from southeast Wyoming to an interconnection with Northern Border Pipeline in North Dakota, had been shut in with scheduled volumes from the Buffalo, WY, receipt point cut to zero since the rupture of the six-month-old pipeline in Campbell County, WY (see NGI, July 25).

From the start, TransCanada has been speculating that the failed pipe segment had been hit by something externally. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is investigating.

“The affected pipe has been sent to the lab for various tests,” said TransCanada’s spokesperson, adding that it will be “some time before we get answers as to why this particular pipe failed.”

Earlier, the spokesperson had acknowledged that the failed segment was part of pipeline in Wyoming that was thicker than the rest of the 302-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline and had been supplied by one of Bison’s shippers. It also operated at 72% of specified minimum yield strength (SMYS), compared to the rest of Bison that operates at 80% SMYS.

Bison entered service on Jan. 14, transporting gas from the Powder River Basin headed for the Midwest. The pipeline extends northeasterly from the Dead Horse Region near Gillette, WY, through southeastern Montana and southwestern North Dakota where it interconnects with Northern Border’s system near that pipeline’s Compressor Station No. 6 in Morton County, ND. Bison’s design capacity is 477 MMcf/d.

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