������ý

Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier says the section of the Western Gateway pipeline that would cross near Mescalero Apache land in New Mexico has received buy-in from local tribes. (Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg)

[Stay on top of transportation news: .]

U.S. federal and state officials are lining up with the oil industry to support a plan by Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan to deliver gasoline to California via what could become the world’s largest fuel pipeline.

Prospective customers of the Western Gateway pipeline, announced in October, are facing a Dec. 19 deadline to formally signal interest in shipping fuel on the conduit. The idea was hatched during a brainstorming session at a corporate leadership development session and aims to connect fuel-making plants from the Midwest and other regions to California, where a wave of refinery closures is crimping energy supplies.

The so-called open season in which would-be customers register their desire to reserve pipeline space has “gone quite well,” Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier told Bloomberg News on Dec. 16. “We will be a substantial shipper on it ourselves.”��

Midwest refiners, West Coast fuel sellers and commodity trading houses are considering the opportunity, Lashier said. In addition to gasoline, the project would transport jet fuel and diesel to the state that routinely shoulders the highest pump prices in the nation.

Lashier’s conversations have included talks with President Donald Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, run by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. Topics up for discussion have included how to supply the West Coast with fuel from the middle of the country in the same way that the massive Colonial Pipeline connects Gulf Coast refineries to the Northeast, he noted.

Image

A Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo, Calif. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

The Western Gateway network would cross from Illinois through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada before eventually delivering fuel to California and adjacent markets. Much of the pipeline would be built along or utilize existing Kinder Morgan conduits, but a new section would be constructed across New Mexico.

U.S. pipeline construction tends to draw the ire of environmental groups with recent projects sparking protests that have significantly delayed work. Conduits built on or near Native American tribal lands have proved a particular flash point for protest.

The section of the Western Gateway pipe that would cross near Mescalero Apache land in New Mexico has received buy-in from local tribes, Lashier said. “I think they understand that we can operate these things safely, reliably and that it could be a source of income,” he noted.

Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below��or go here for more info: