ENGINEERS working on a giant pipeline are warning the demand for gas is threatening to outstrip supplies.

The 18-mile line will supply homes and firms in East Lancashire, and at £30m is the biggest gas infrastructure project in the North-west.

It crosses environmentally-sensitive moorland, a motorway and a canal.

Transco warns that as offshore gas supplies peak, imports will need to increase by a third within the next eight years, meaning more pipelines.