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Officials Expect Texas-Arizona Gas Pipeline to Be Finished in 2006

Posted on: Saturday, 2 July 2005, 00:00 CDT

Jul. 1--An upgrade of a gasoline pipeline that ruptured almost two years ago near Tucson and brings fuel from Texas to the Valley should be complete by next summer and increase its capacity by 80 percent, officials said.

Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Jeff Hatch-Miller said the expansion of the pipeline owned by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is expected to be done by April.

But Kinder Morgan spokesman Rick Rainey would not confirm that, only saying the upgrade should be finished and the line in service by "the second quarter of next year." The second quarter ends June 30. Hatch-Miller said the upgrade to the line will lessen the Valley's dependence on California fuel, which is typically more expensive than that refined in Texas, and increase the region's overall fuel supply.

The Valley gets the majority of its gasoline through an underground line from California, while about a third is delivered to the Valley through the El Paso line. "The exciting thing is that construction is going to be completed as of next April. Now, we know it's going to be less than a year from now," Hatch-Miller said.

The pipeline runs from El Paso through Tucson and into the Valley. It is the same one that ruptured July 30, 2003, near Tucson, interrupting deliveries of gasoline and causing fuel shortages, long lines at gas stations and skyrocketing pump prices across the region.

Hatch-Miller said the upgrade will increase pipe diameters that are currently either 8- or 12-inches to 12- to 16-inches. The upgrade will increase the daily amount of fuel delivered to Tucson by 56 percent, from 90,000 barrels to 147,000 barrels, Hatch-Miller said.

"In Phoenix, it's increasing from 49,000 barrels to 99,000 barrels, so we're doubling the amount of fuel that's coming into the Valley from the East," Hatch-Miller said.

While the $210 million upgrade as a whole is ongoing, different sections of the pipeline are in various stages of improvement, Rainey said. The ruptured section in Tucson was among the first to be repaired and upgraded, he said.

Once finished, the project should increase the line's overall capacity by about 80 percent, Rainey said.

"The driving force behind this is the increased growth in Phoenix and Tucson," he said.

Tom Rex, an Arizona State University economist, said the increased supply of fuel will be an improvement, but may not result in lower prices at the pump.

"If we had a gas shortage here, it would lower the price. But we don't really have a shortage," Rex said.

Still, the increase in the amount of fuel delivered from Texas "will absolutely help if there's a supply problem coming out of California," Rex said.

The line undergoing expansion is not the same one underneath Pecos Road in Chandler that is the center of a lawsuit between Chandler and Kinder Morgan.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

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Source: The Tribune

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