Fri, Aug 22, 2003
It Now Carries Auto Fuel To Gas-Starved Phoenix
Petroleum executives
promise Tucson (AZ) won't run out of jet fuel, after a pipeline
from Phoenix was 'retasked' this week to help the Valley of the Sun
deal with a terrible gas crunch.
The decision from Kinder Morgan, the Houston-based company which
owns a pair of pipelines between the two Arizona cities, came after
all retail gasoline supplies in Phoenix dried up virtually at
once. Of 313 filling stations in the Valley of the Sun, only 13
offered gasoline to drivers earlier this week.
Gas prices shot up to well over $2/gal., with some stations'
reputedly charging upwards of $4/gal. (Arizona has no applicable
anti-gouging laws.) The reason for the gas crunch? Kinder Morgan's
other six-inch pipe between Tucson and Phoenix broke, leaving five
homes awash in gasoline. Earlier this week, Kinder Morgan
tested the gasoline line. It failed. That's when the company
decided to rededicate the JP-4 pipe.
Robbing Peter To Pay Paul?
"Bypassing that segment of line is the fastest way to return
gasoline deliveries to normal levels in the Phoenix market," said
Tom Bannigan, Kinder Morgan's pipeline president. By repurposing
the JP-4 line, Kinder Morgan is able to pump 35,000 more gallons of
gas into Phoenix everyday. Of course, that's 35,000 gallons of jet
fuel that won't be loaded on commercial and general aviation
aircraft in Phoenix.
To make up the difference, Kinder Morgan says more JP-4 will be
trucked into Tucson from El Paso and that supplies of jet fuel
won't be affected. But the pipeline company made no mention of the
increased costs of driving the fuel into Tucson. As motorists in
Phoenix can attest, that might well cause a major spike in the
price of jet fuel at the pump.
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