Supply issues will arise from the cancellation of the 966-km Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in the US, according to Dominion Energy Inc which was building the pipeline to meet rising gas consumption in eastern North Carolina and southeast Virginia. Dominion and its partner, Duke Energy Corp, on Sunday announced that they abandoned the $8-billion project which was delayed for years.
The pipeline would have been able to supply gas for about 7.5 million US households every day. An industry analyst said the cancellation would force power consumers in the US Southeast to seek for other gas supplies to implement the region’s coal-to-gas switch.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) previously expected US gas demand would reach record highs almost every year through 2050. But that was before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, EIA forecast US gas consumption to fall by about 4% in 2020 and another 4% in 2021 from a record high in 2019.
