California oil pipelines reopened until Jan 26 Monday January 22, 11:30 AM EST NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan (KMP) expects to bring refined product stocks at California's airports and gasoline stations back to normal by the end of the week after being excused constraints on power supply, a company spokesman said on Monday.

Kinder Morgan obtained official approval for a plan to drop temporarily out of its agreement with utility Pacific Gas & Electric under which it promises to shut down operations during energy alerts in return for lower electricity rates.

Power problems last week interrupted the flow of fuel through Kinder Morgan's pipeline supply networks as California suffered three days of electricity alerts.

The waiver, granted on Friday, will last until Jan 26. "Pipelines have been running as normal since Friday afternoon. We expect inventories to get back to normal levels by end week and then we'll take it from there," the spokesman said.

When not idled, the 900,000 barrel per day pipeline delivers jet fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel supplies from major California refineries to both northern and southern California.

The pipeline operation fell two to three days behind on deliveries last week, cutting stocks at gasoline distribution terminals and airports.

On Thursday, San Francisco International Airport narrowly escaped running out of jet fuel, which would have played havoc with flight schedules at the world's ninth busiest airport, officials said.

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=reu-n22520736&feed=reu&date=20010122&cat=INDUSTRY ©2000 Reuters Limited.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 22, 2001