July 12 (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp 's TRP.TO Columbia Gas Transmission (TCO) unit said on Thursday it returned to service a section of the Leach Xpress natural gas pipeline downstream from a pipe blast in West Virginia in early June.
Columbia said in a notice to customers that the Stagecoach-Leach Xpress meter in southeast Ohio has returned to service.
The Stagecoach meter, the large connection at which different pipelines meet, in Monroe County on the Ohio-West Virginia border attaches to EQT Midstream Partners LP's EQM.N Strike Force South gathering fields in Monroe and Belmont counties in Ohio.
Strike Force can also deliver to Energy Transfer Partners LP's ETP.N Rover pipeline and Enbridge Inc's ENB.TO Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) pipeline.
Columbia Gas said it was still working on the site of the blast and expected the pipe to return to service in mid July. shutdown of Leach Xpress forced producers using the line to find other pipes to ship gas out of the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
Alternative pipelines include ETP's Rover, Tallgrass Energy LP's TGE.N Rockies Express (REX), EQT Midstream Partners LP's Equitrans and Enbridge's Tetco, according to analysts at S&P Global Platts.
Columbia Gas, which declared a force majeure after the blast, said the damaged section of pipe could affect movement of about 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd). One billion cubic feet of gas can fuel about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
Energy analysts said overall output in the Appalachian region was little changed by the blast as producers, like Range Resources Corp (NYSE:RRC) RRC.N and Southwestern Energy Co SWN.N , found other pipes to ship their gas.
Appalachian output rose from 27.5 bcfd before the June 7 blast to as high as 28.1 bcfd over the weekend, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The 1.5-bcfd Leach Xpress in West Virginia and Ohio, which entered full service at the start of 2018, transports Marcellus and Utica shale gas to consumers in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast.
The 12,000-mile (19,312-km) Columbia pipeline system, which TransCanada acquired in 2016, serves millions of customers from New York to the Gulf of Mexico.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ UPDATE 3-TransCanada contains W.Va. natgas pipeline blast, no injuries
No natgas flows through W. Va. Leach Xpress, producers use other pipes
TransCanada fixes part of Leach Xpress natgas pipe after W.Va. blast
TransCanada working on Leach Xpress natgas pipe after W.Va. blast
TransCanada extends W Virginia Leach natgas pipe return to mid-July