U.S. energy firm Equitrans Midstream delayed the completion date for its Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia to the second quarter of 2024 from the previous estimate of the first quarter.
The company also boosted the projected cost to complete the project to around $7.57 billion-$7.63 billion, up from a prior estimate of about $7.2 billion.
Equitrans spoke about Mountain Valley in its fourth earnings report, which beat estimates.
Mountain Valley is the only big gas pipeline under construction in the U.S. Northeast. It has encountered numerous regulatory and court fights that have stopped work several times since construction began in 2018.
The pipe, which is key to unlocking gas supplies from Appalachia, the nation’s biggest shale gas-producing region, needed a bill from the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by the president and help from the Supreme Court before it could restart construction.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino)