Columbia

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s (TCO) Leach XPress pipeline was still out of service on Thursday, a week after an explosion and fire in Marshall County, WV, knocked out volumes and forced the company to issue a force majeure.

There was no more clarity on Friday about when service might be restored on Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s (TCO) Leach XPress line after an early morning explosion near Moundsville, WV, on Thursday forced the operator to cut capacity to zero, which is stirring up the Appalachian spot market.

There was no more clarity on Friday about when service might be restored on Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s (TCO) Leach XPress line after an early morning explosion near Moundsville, WV, on Thursday forced the operator to cut capacity to zero, which is stirring up the Appalachian spot market.

If all the natural gas pipeline projects currently under construction to serve producers in the Appalachian Basin ramp up as scheduled this year, more than 23 Bcf/d of Northeast takeaway capacity would be online, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

TransCanada Corp.’s Columbia Gas Transmission LLC (TCO) has requested FERC’s approval to construct and operate the Buckeye XPress Project in Ohio and West Virginia, which would add another 275 MMcf/d of natural gas capacity to the interstate pipeline system.

FERC has denied a request filed earlier this year by three environmental groups to suspend construction of TransCanada Corp.’s Mountaineer Xpress and Gulf Xpress projects pending a rehearing, finding that the organizations failed to demonstrate irreparable injury.

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has issued a wetlands and waterways permit for Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project, the latest in a recent spate of regulatory hurdles cleared by the TransCanada Corp. subsidiary.

FERC has issued certificates of public convenience and necessity for the Mountaineer XPress and Gulf XPress projects, a pair of TransCanada Corp. efforts to increase natural gas pipeline capacity out of the Appalachian Basin by expanding the company’s Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s system.

FERC has granted a request from Columbia Gulf Transmission LLC to place into service the Leach XPress project, which would add up to 1.53 million Dth/d of capacity for gas from Appalachia.