TransCanada Seeks Jan 1 Start for US Line

TransCanada asked the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on December 13 to issue an approval to put its $1.6bn Leach Xpress Project into service on January 1, 2018.

Leach Xpress, a project of TransCanada subsidiary Columbia Gas Transmission, consists of two greenfield gas pipelines, two natural gas pipeline loops, the abandonment of one existing gas pipeline, three greenfield compressor stations, three new compressor units and the abandonment of an existing compressor unit.

The facilities are located in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio and are designed to transport up to 1.5bn ft³/day of Appalachian shale gas to markets in Ohio, West Virginia and southeastward, through the new Rayne Xpress Project. Rayne Xpress, which consists of new compression on the existing Columbia Gas Transmission system, cost about $400mn and creates an additional 1bn ft³/day of capacity to move Marcellus and Utica shale gas to markets on the US Gulf Coast.