Williams executives are expecting strong growth for natural gas consumption in the years ahead, but said those levels of demand may not come “quite as quickly as a lot of people think,” and, in one case, that demand was not enough to overcome opposition to a pipeline project.

“Natural gas demand is not just growing now, it is accelerating,” CEO Alan Armstrong said during the first quarter earnings call.

However, in the near-term, Lower 48 gas markets are “definitely oversupplied” and “it is going to be a period, though, of people having to be patient and waiting on the market,” according to Armstrong.

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