Penn-Jersey gas line to resume flows before winter

OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2016. Spectra Energy said it expects to bring the Penn-Jersey pipeline system back on line by 1 November after it completes more detailed investigations following an explosion on 29 April.

The company is still investigating what caused the pipeline rupture and subsequent explosion on the Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) line downstream of the Delmont, Pennsylvania, compressor station. The system consists of four parallel pipes and runs from Delmont to Lambertville, New Jersey.

Spectra today said it expects the cause of the rupture and explosion will be determined by late summer or early fall.

The investigations will likely begin next week and will include reviewing inspection data, evaluating construction records, and scheduling additional inspections of all four lines, although only one line ruptured, company spokesman Creighton Welch said. Field investigations will include uncovering the pipeline in some locations.

The 2.6 Bcf/d (74mn m?/d) Delmont station shut after the 29 April explosion but flows through the station up to 1.2 Bcf/d were restored on 10 May, Welch said. Flows just prior to the explosion were averaging 1.1 Bcf/d, he said.

But a meter near the station remains shut and a force majeure is still in place, which has supported spot prices at Tetco M-3. Prices there averaged \\$1.63/mmBtu in the first week of May, 17pc higher than the prior week, and have averaged 5pc higher in the two months following the explosion compared with the corresponding year-earlier period.

The Delmont station is located near the 81.4 Bcf Oakford storage site, but the explosion did not damage that site, Welch said.

Over the past two months the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection conducted air, soil and water tests at the site and found no contaminants resulting from the explosion.

The US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on 3 May ordered Spectra to take immediate action to determine the root cause of the incident. PHMSA is also investigating the cause.