Leach

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC (TCO) said based on its current repair schedule for Leach XPress, which was damaged in an explosion earlier this month, it now expects to return the pipeline to service sometime in early July.

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.

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC (TCO) said about 1.3 Bcf/d of firm service could be disrupted indefinitely after an explosion and fire occurred Thursday on the Leach XPress line in Marshall County, WV, prompting the company to issue a force majeure.

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.

Columbia Gas Transmission (TCO) is holding a non-binding open season to solicit interest in its Buckeye XPress Project, which would provide firm transportation service from Marcellus and Utica shale production areas in Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia to TCO’s IPP Pool and its existing Leach, KY, interconnection with Columbia Gulf Transmission.

Backers of the Rover and Leach XPress pipeline projects have provided FERC with detailed plans to co-locate along a 13-mile route where their proposed routes overlap in Monroe County, OH.

FERC has notified affiliates of Energy Transfer Partners LP and Columbia Pipeline Group Inc. that it can’t approve two major Appalachian pipeline projects until an overlapping 13-mile section of the proposed routes in Monroe and Noble counties, OH, is redesigned.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in comments filed with FERC on Monday that the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for Columbia Pipeline Group Inc.’s Leach and Rayne XPress pipeline projects is insufficient, recommending that additional information be included in the final version.