Some US provinces may have to face blackouts during Winters

Washington: Local fuel companies have warned that some parts of the United States will face major blackouts during the winter. Some states in the northeastern US, apart from New England, import natural gas to meet winter electricity demand. However, due to the increased demand for fuel gas from European countries, there are indications that these provinces will not have enough fuel gas available. While this news has surfaced, President Joe Biden has announced to sell one and a half million barrels of crude oil in the reserve fuel reserves of the United States.

Last month, Reuters, a leading news agency, reported that gas shortages might occur in the United States, which supplies Europe with gas. US natural gas inventories in underground storage fell to 2,771 billion cubic feet. This is the second lowest level since 2010. It was said in this report that considering the average reserves of the United States before Corona, this reserve is less than 400 billion cubic feet.

Due to drought conditions in some parts of the US, hydroelectric generation has been limited and the use of coal has almost stopped. Therefore, the use of fuel gas for power generation has increased to a large extent. The US, power generation companies have used 4,372 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the first five months of this year. This demand is likely to increase more in winter. Although the average winter demand is 150 to 3000 billion cubic feet, it can add up significantly due to hurricanes and other disasters. In such a situation, local power companies have expressed fear that some parts of United States may go into darkness if adequate fuel is unavailable for power supply.

There are not enough pipelines to supply fuel to the New England region of the Northeastern United States. Therefore, for the past few years, companies in this province have been meeting their winter demand by importing natural gas. But this year, most US gas companies are exporting fuel to European countries. Agreements in this regard have also been made. Therefore, it is said that fuel gas will not be available locally from US companies. On the other hand, it is impossible to arrange fuel gas through this means due to limited number of ships in US ports. Apart from the New England region, parts of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island in North-Eastern America are also expected to face blackouts.

Meanwhile, President Biden has decided to open one and a half million barrels of crude oil in the country’s ‘Strategic Petroleum Reserve’ for sale when the crisis of ‘blackout’ has affected the provinces of the United States. Last month, it was revealed that US fuel reserves fell to the lowest level in four decades. Against this background, opposition parties and analysts are criticizing Biden’s decision for the elections to be held in November.