A key pipeline supplying natural gas to California is returning to service, signaling some price relief after an 18-month interruption that helped propel a surge in heating and power costs in the state.Kinder Morgan Inc.’s El Paso unit has completed restart activities on its Line 2000 and lifted a force majeure in place since August 2021, with flows set to increase beginning Wednesday, the operator said in a notice. The line had been shut for a year and a half after a failure on it caused a deadly explosion near the town of Coolidge, Arizona.
The shutdown curbed California’s ability to import gas from Texas, its biggest supplier. Soaring heating bills this winter have infuriated Californians, and Governor Gavin Newsom this month called for an investigation into high gas prices.
The conduit’s restart will boost supply into the region by roughly 600 million cubic feet a day, helping alleviate the upward pressure on California prices, according to Jason Ferguson, an analyst at analysis firm RBN Energy LLC.
Gas for next-day delivery into Southern California traded at $5.50 per million British thermal unit on Tuesday, down from $6.48 on Monday, according to traders. That’s still roughly twice the price of gas at Henry Hub in Louisiana, the US benchmark.
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