Xpress

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.

Natural gas spot prices in the United States were up an average 21% last year compared with 2016, and a confluence of events helped drive prices in Southern California 18% higher as well, according to FERC.

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.

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.

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s WB XPress Project was issued a FERC certificate Friday to allow a 1.3 Bcf/d expansion in West Virginia and Virginia to move forward.

FERC issued a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS) Friday for TransCanada Corp.’s Mountaineer XPress and Gulf XPress expansion projects, a move likely to encourage producers hoping for more natural gas pipeline capacity out of the Appalachian Basin.

FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) Friday for Columbia Gas Transmission LLC’s proposed 1.3 million Dth/d WB XPress Project in Virginia and West Virginia.

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.