UPDATE 3-INTERVIEW-Enbridge to seek commitments for new US line

(Recasts with details on start of open season for Texas line; figures in U.S. dollars unless noted)

By Scott Haggett

CALGARY, Alberta, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) Chief Executive Pat Daniel said a new $3 billion Illinois-Texas oil pipeline planned by his company and partner Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) should help Canadian producers narrow a big price gap between their oil and Mexican supplies.

Daniel said the planned Texas Access pipeline, which had also been dubbed Clydesdale, should help Canadian producers capture premium prices being paid for oil by refiners on the U.S. Gulf coast.

"It's obvious why they're keen (on the new line)," Daniel said. "Right now, Mexican Mayan crude is selling for about $15 more a barrel in the Gulf than Western Canada Select crude is in Edmonton. We can get it there for $6 to $7 a barrel so ... it's a very good opportunity for producers to broaden their markets and improve their pricing."

The line, which will carry oil from Canada's oil sands to the biggest U.S. refining center, is expected to be complete in 2010 or 2011, Daniel said. It will run 768 miles (1,244 km from Patoka, Illinois, to Nederland, near Beaumont, Texas, and then to refineries on the Houston Ship Channel.

Enbridge said it will begin a binding open season for the new line on Wednesday, allowing shippers to contract for space on the pipeline.

The line, which could carry 400,000 barrels a day, is one of a number of new projects being mulled by Enbridge, whose network of pipelines carries about 70 percent of Canada's crude oil exports to the United States.

The company is looking for new markets for a coming flood of crude oil expected from the oil sands, boosting capacity to the U.S. with a suite of projects like the $2.1 billion Southern Access line from Alberta to the Midwest.