Indonesia: Blackouts will slow city's economic growth: BPS

The blackouts conducted by the state power company PT PLN are likely to slow economic growth in the fourth quarter of this year, said an official at the Jakarta chapter of the Central Statistic Agency (BPS).

“If the blackouts go on until December, it will tend to slow economic growth in the fourth quarter, which will affect economic growth for this whole year,” BPS head Agus Suherman told reporters Friday.

He said electricity was the energy source for all industrial businesses, regardless of their size. “Large enterprises may have generators, which will help, but small enterprises like restaurants will suffer,” he said.

Arianto A. Patunru, the director of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM) at the University of Indonesia, voiced a similar view on a possible slowdown in economic growth during the fourth quarter.

Malawi: Mugabe Blamed for Malawi Fuel Shortages

Fuel shortages in Malawi have occurred because the country is running out of foreign currency, partly because the Malawian government lent Zimbabwe 100 million US dollars which has yet to be repaid, according to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the Malawian online paper, the “Nyasa Times”.

The Malawian authorities have tried to blame Mozambique for the country’s fuel woes, claiming that fuel has been held up because of congestion in the ports of Nacala and Beira. This claim was strongly denied on Monday by managers of both ports.

Fernando Couto, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), which runs the Nacala port and rail system, said that Malawi had simply run out of foreign exchange and had even asked to borrow fuel.

Malawi: Malawi begs Mozambique to lend it fuel after being depleted of forex

The Malawi Government has been pressing the Mozambique Government in a bit to borrow fuel as Malawi has run out of foreign exchange, it has been learnt.

Malawi is facing a serious fuel shortage following the scarcity of foreign exchange. Fernando Couto, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), which runs the Nacala port and rail system, says that Malawi asked Mozambique to borrow fuel.

“The Malawians have even asked us to lend them fuel”, Couto revealed, denying claims by Malawi authorities that the current shortage of fuel is due to congestion at the Mozambican ports of Nacala and Beira.

Nigeria: Shell sees rise in Nigeria oil theft

Suspected oil thieves in Nigeria have increased their attacks on Royal Dutch Shell-operated (RDSa.L) oil facilities, the company said on Friday, reporting five separate incidents already in the last three months.

Shell said suspected thieves sabotaged five oil wellheads in the oil-producing Niger Delta since Aug. 14, some resulting in fires. No production was affected since most of the oilfields were already shutdown because of insecurity in the region.

Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but thieves take a sizeable proportion of its output by drilling into pipelines or hijacking barges loaded with oil, a type of theft known locally as "bunkering".

Pakistan: Gas load shedding to hamper industrial activity

President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad has expressed fear that two-day gas load shedding will hamper industrial production in the country.

“This may cause a negative growth in industrial sector and affect the overall GDP performance”, he said while talking to media after inaugurating 5th international Machine Tools and Automation Pakistan (MTAP) and Auto and Auto Parts Pakistan (AAPP) 2009, organized by Pegasus Consultancy at Karachi Expo Center here Thursday.

He said that this will not be a two-day load shedding, but its affect will be felt on “third day” as it will take another day to build up the pressure in gas pipelines before the gas is supplied to industry.
“We will oppose it with full pressure and keep forcing the government to defer this decision as it had postponed the two-day holiday decision in the country”, he maintained.

Philippines: More brownouts in Cebu: Power outages seen until 2010

Sporadic brownouts will continue to hit Cebu until next year unless there would be additional power from new power plants imbedded into the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid.

Antonio T. Corpuz, senior vice president and chief operating officer of SPC Power Corp., in a power briefing with Cebu media yesterday said that the entire CNP grid has a very thin reserve of only 13 megawatts, which is short by 106 megawatts.

The ideal power reserve for the grid should be 119 megawatts.

Zimbabwe: No Light to Zesa's Tunnel of Power Woes

MOST households and industries in Zimbabwe are currently limited to less than 10 hours of electricity supply daily because of power cuts which are a result of lack of investment in power generation since Independence. The hardest hit areas are limited to about five hours of electricity daily.

Only about 30% of the country has access to grid electricity.

What is more worrying is that despite not having electricity during the greater part of the day, households are receiving electricity bills as high as US$1 600.

Global: Oil : future world shortages are being drastically underplayed, say experts

A leading academic institute has urged European governments to review global oil supplies for themselves because of the "politicisation" of the International Energy Agency's figures.

Uppsala University in Sweden today published a scathing assessment of the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, saying some assumptions drastically underplayed the scale of future oil shortages.

Cuba: Cuba orders extreme measures to cut energy use

Cuba has ordered all state enterprises to adopt "extreme measures" to cut energy usage through the end of the year in hopes of avoiding the dreaded blackouts that plagued the country following the 1991 collapse of its then-top ally, the Soviet Union.

In documents seen by Reuters, government officials have been warned that the island is facing a "critical" energy shortage that requires the closing of non-essential factories and workshops and the shutting down of air conditioners and refrigerators not needed to preserve food and medicine.

Indonesia: PLN officials told to address power outages or lose jobs

State SOE Minister Mustafa Abubakar has asked officials of state electricity company PT PLN to immediately address the ongoing power shortage in the country, especially in Jakarta, or risk losing their jobs.

“I will discipline those who fail to meet the electricity crisis settlement deadline. I will also reward those who meet the deadline,” Mustafa said during a visit to the Cawang Baru substation in East Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia: Monopoly rears its ugly head

The state electricity monopoly (PLN) raised again its ugly head with more extensive damages as rotating power blackouts, previously limited mostly to areas outside Java, have now hit even the capital city, the center of political and commercial power.

PLN chief executive officer Fahmi Mochtar said Monday the rolling power outages in Jakarta and its surrounding towns, initially caused by the explosion of a transformer at the high-voltage transmission grid in Cawang in September, would continue until Christmas due to the technical problems at the Muara Karang power generation plant in north Jakarta.

Malawi: Malawi: Fuel shortage deepens

The country has for the past four weeks gone with empty tanks at fuel service centres, forcing vehicles to wait for hours on end in a quest to get fuel.

Officials from Petroleum Importers Limited and the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority say they are doing all they can to pressurize officials at Beira Port to deliver.
Tankers of fuel remain stuck at Beira with loads of fuel while people adapt to living in the dark.

Nepal: Fuel shortage hits consumers

Shortage of petroleum products has hit consumers in the Valley as Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) failed to manage supplies amid dwindling import, which resulted from stringent depot safety policy of the Indian supplier and traffic jam along Birgunj-Raxaul corridor, the main import route.

Petroleum dealers said the NOC did not issue petrol to private dealers on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it distributed 225 kiloliters of fuel, which is three-fourth of normal daily demand, in the Valley.

"Almost all dealers in the valley were out of stock earlier on the day. Fuel was distributed only late on the day, building queues at the refilling stations," said Sharad Bhandari of Nepal Petroleum Dealers´ Association, flaying the NOC for not managing the import-related problem on time.