economic consequences

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.

Argentina: Falta gasoil y podría aumentar el precio de la nafta en la región

Some warn that oil prices will rise agaiin. Within this framework, managers of service stations in the region complained about shortages of diesel and the lack of fuel truck dispatchers. The voices of customers are also being felt: "We are already accustomed and resigned to increases not only in the fuel, but also on most products, there is no other thing to do other than putting your hand in my pocket and pay" people complain.

Botswana: Rapid economic growth propels power shortage

Rapid economic growth and electricity demands have precipitated severe power shortage in Southern African, says University of Botswana lecturer, Dr Oboetswe Motsamai.

Presenting a paper on Cost-effective and environmentally-friendly energy systems for industries at the just ended Botswana Institution of Engineers workshop in Gaborone last week, Dr Motsamai said South Africa's Eskom, which had been supplying excess power to neighbouring countries, particularly Botswana had shutdown some of the thermal plants due to aging.

Dr Motsamai said Botswana had been receiving 75 per cent of the total power demand from South Africa. Excess cheap power sold to Botswana dropped drastically in 2007 and that was not only a challenge for Botswana Power Corporation, but power consumers as well especially major companies.

Dr Motsamai said as a temporary solution, the two countries affected by the power shortage resorted to power shedding mechanisms and since the load shedding was not coordinated properly, it did more harm than good.The major diamond mining company and copper nickel mine in Botswana lost millions of Pula while small industries were not sparred. He said many businesses resorted to generators which caused both environmental and noise pollution.

India: Coal shortages curb India's Sept power output-govt

Coal shortages restricted growth in India's overall power generation to an annual 7.5 percent in September, power regulator Central Electricity Authority said on Tuesday.
Generation would have grown 9.8 percent had enough coal been available at plants of NTPC Ltd, it said in a statement.
India has 10 percent of the world's coal reserves, the biggest after the United States, Russia and China, but imports have grown rapidly from almost zero five years ago to an estimated 70 million tonnes in the current fiscal year.
The share of coal-fired plants in India's generation capacity will rise to 57 percent by March 2012 from the current 53.3 percent or 80,284 megawatts.
India produced nearly 63.57 billion kilowatt hours last month, up from 59.12 billion kilowatt hours a year ago, it said.

Nigeria: Shell Nigerian onshore oil output heavily down

Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSa.L) onshore oil output in Nigeria has been heavily curtailed by violence, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.

"We have a huge proportion of our onshore production shut in at this stage," Peter Vosel told reporters. "I think we are now at 120,000 barrels per day and we used to be close to 300,000. These are Shell's share (production)."