The California natural gas market is primed to receive more supply from the Rockies, and Kern River Gas Transmission Co. is considering an expansion of its Wyoming-to-California pipeline connection.

The company sees significant potential for growth among current natural gas customers in California, said John Dushinske, vice president of Kern River's marketing and regulatory affairs division.

Plus, there is some 9,200 megawatts of electrical generation in development in that state, and an existing 2,500 megawatts with no long-term supply contract. Electricity from clean-burning natural gas could help fill that need.

"We are seeing very clearly the signals are there to expand," Dushinske said.

The potential expansion is another signal that Wyoming's current frenzied pace of energy development is expected to continue.

Kern River officials outlined plans for the potential expansion during the Wyoming Pipeline Authority's regular meeting in Casper on Tuesday. The pipeline authority has $3 billion in bonding authority, which it uses as leverage for projects that boost Wyoming's export capacity for natural gas, oil and other products.

The Kern River system currently carries more than 1.76 billion cubic feet of gas per day. It could be expanded to carry an additional 28 percent or more, said Dushinske. The expansion could be in service by November 2010.

Current export from the Rockies tops 6 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to the Wyoming Pipeline Authority. That's enough to serve 60,000 homes for a year. Producers in the Rockies are bullish on their ability to continue increasing the flow of gas at an annual rate of 5 percent.

"We don't even question the Wyoming gas supply any more," said Mark Doelger, chairman of the Wyoming Pipeline Authority.

The authority was first formed in the early 1990s to promote the construction of the original Kern River pipeline, which now consists of some 1,700 miles of pipeline from the Opal gas plant in southwest Wyoming to points in the American Southwest.

Kern River was a hard sell when originally proposed, according to pipeline authority members. Doubts about whether Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states could unlock unconventional tight-sands gas almost doomed the project. Now, the Rockies region is the fastest-growing natural gas supply in the nation.

Today, Kern River's expansion sales pitch in California is to underscore the need to diversify its sources of natural gas supply. Dushinske said the Southern California region gets 46 percent of its supply from the New Mexico region, 29 percent from Canada, and only 5 percent from the Rockies.

Dushinske said the potential for liquefied natural gas imports faces direct opposition along the coast. Among the numerous "upstream" challenges internationally is that Asian countries are willing to pay top dollar for gas imports.

Construction continues on the massive Rockies Express Pipeline from Wyoming and Colorado to Ohio. The 1,678-mile pipeline will carry 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day to points in the eastern United States. Brian Jeffries, executive director of the Wyoming Pipeline Authority, said the next phase of construction to Missouri should be complete in January.

That expansion is expected to help Wyoming producers fetch about $2 per thousand cubic feet more than the current price for Wyoming natural gas. That means more profit for producers and more revenue to the state.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.