Northwest Pipeline expects to have a 111-mile portion of its idled 26-inch diameter line between Sumas and Washougal, WA, back in service by the end of this month providing an additional 131,000 Dth/d of much needed pipeline capacity. About 268 miles of the 1950s vintage pipeline was taken out of service last year after two ruptures occurred.

Spokeswoman Bev Chipman said a portion of the idled line has been hydrotested and is ready for service. “We’re in the process of getting approval to bring the last 32 miles out of the 111 miles back into service. The rest of it we will not bring back into service,” she said.

“It is pretty important that we get part of it back in service this summer. When we had the full 268 miles, we were looking at 360,000 Dth/d so it’s about one-third of the capacity we idled last December that we will have brought back by the end of the month. None of it is up right now.”

The capacity increase will allow customers to transport more gas to markets in southern Washington, Oregon and California and to the Jackson Prairie storage field.

Northwest planned to activate a third segment of the idled 26-inch line last Tuesday, a 45-mile stretch from Ft. Lewis to Chehalis. However the activation was not expected to add any extra pipeline capacity, Chipman said.

In the meantime, the Williams subsidiary is considering building an entirely new 36-inch diameter pipeline to replace the entire capacity lost from the 26-inch diameter system, which would be completely taken out of service when the new line is operational in 2006.

The pipeline ruptures occurred last year in May and in December. There were no explosions nor any injuries. However, the federal Office of Pipeline Safety and the Pipeline Safety Division of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission ordered the company to test and repair defective segments of the pipeline, which was installed in 1956.

Following the result of the hydrotest, Chipman said the company is looking at a combination of factors that could have produced the stress-corrosion cracking that led to the ruptures. “They are looking at the type of steel, the environment that it is in — it’s a moist environment– and the coating on the pipe. It was a combination of all three but particularly the environment that it’s in.”

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