State Regulations Forces Questar to Cancel Part of Southern Trails 
Salt Lake City-based Questar Corp. went out to bid earlier this month on four new compressors to complete its conversion work on the east-of-California portion of its 705-mile Southern Trails Pipeline from the San Juan Basin to the Long Beach port area of Southern California. The portion of the converted oil pipeline between the California border and the Four Corners Area in New Mexico will open June 1 next year, a Questar spokesman said Monday. 
It is unlikely the almost 300-mile portion of the former oil pipeline in California will be brought into natural gas service due to state regulatory provisions that make it uneconomic for prospect customers to leave their local supplier for part of their gas supplies. Questar currently is looking for optional uses and a potential buyer for that portion of the project. 
Whether any of the pipeline's proposed 110 MMcf/d of supplies gets into California would depend on the takeaway capacity at the border and/or what a new operator on the California side might do with the pipeline, Questar's spokesperson said.