Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan are soliciting shipper commitments for a major proposed pipeline system designed to move fuel from the Texas refining hub to Arizona and California, the companies announced Monday.

The project aims to bolster West Coast fuel supplies facing strain from a spate of upcoming refinery closures. 

Phillips 66 plans to shut its Los Angeles refinery by the end of this year, and Valero Energy will close its Benicia refinery next year.

Together, those two refineries produce about 20% of California's fuel and also help meet demand in neighboring states. The planned closures have prompted regulators to seek alternative supply methods.

The joint proposal involves constructing a new pipeline, dubbed the Western Gateway Pipeline, running from Borger, Texas, to Phoenix, while also reversing the flow of two existing pipelines. 

According to the plan, a Kinder Morgan pipeline currently delivering fuel from Colton, California, to Phoenix and the Phillips 66-operated Gold Pipeline, which now flows from Borger to St. Louis, Missouri, will be reversed. 

This change will allow fuel from Midwestern refineries to feed the new system, the companies said in a joint statement.

California drivers currently pay the highest gasoline prices in the Lower 48 states, and costs were expected to rise further due to the shutdowns.

"This is potentially huge news for motorists in California, Las Vegas, Arizona, and great news for refiners in the Gulf," GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said on the social media platform X. De Haan added that the system could incentivize Gulf Coast refiners to increase capacity.

The initiative follows a similar move last month by Magellan Pipeline, a ONEOK subsidiary, which began gauging interest in a new system to move products from Houston and southern Oklahoma to El Paso, Texas, and the Phoenix area.