Capping off almost two weeks of work, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. finished repairs on the second rupture point on its Nova system Thursday morning and put the stretch of pipe back into service. The company fixed the #1 rupture on Saturday, Dec. 6.

The two line breaks occurred in the first week of December in a remote section of Alberta, shutting down the 36-inch pipeline and approximately 465 MMcf/d of the 750 MMcf/d throughput. Only 285 MMcf/d was getting through with both ruptures, according to TransCanada spokeswoman Hejdi Feick. After the first rupture was fixed on Saturday, Dec. 6, the pipeline was moving 313 MMcf/d, she noted, adding that the pipes current throughput with both ruptures fixed was not yet known.

There were no reports of injuries in the resulting fires. The first break at 5:45 p.m. MST on Monday, Dec. 1 occurred about 30 km southwest of the community of Little Smokey. The second blast came at 7 a.m. MST on Tuesday, Dec. 2 approximately 20 km southwest of the communities of Valleyview and the Sturgeon Lake First Nation.

While some producers shut in gas during the down time, others turned to alternative shipping channels such as the Alliance Pipeline. TransCanada PipeLines’ preliminary investigations have indicated external corrosion was the likely cause of the ruptures (see NGI, Dec. 8).

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