China: New cold wave to worsen energy shortage

The oncoming cold spell will add to the country's energy shortage, as coal-transport harbors in northern China may freeze.

A cold wave from the northwest is expected to head east and drop temperatures 8-12 degrees Celsius, and possibly even 18 degrees Celsius, the Central Meteorological Observatory said.

"The cold wave will reach Bohai Bay around January 20," said Zhang Mingying, a weather expert at the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. "The temperature there might stay at minus-10 for a long while."

Pakistan: Gas supply suspended as shortfall reaches record high

Gas supply to many industrial units, including the Karachi Electric Supply Company, has been suspended as the gas shortfall reached a record high in the country, with gas load shedding also being implemented for domestic consumers.

According to the Petroleum Ministry, the Sui Southern and Northern Gas Companies have suspended supply to many units, as the increase in demand pushed the shortfall to 940 million cubic feet (MMCFD). The demand for gas is around 4050 MMCFD; however, the supply is around 3110 MMCFD, a private TV channel reported on Sunday.

Philippines: Palace to DOE: Prevent fuel shortage from Shell's importation row

Malacañang ordered the Department of Energy on Monday to find ways to avert a possible fuel shortage should the Customs Bureau seize the P43 billion in assets of oil refiner Pilipinas Shell.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Palace is expecting Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to consider all options after Pilipinas Shell issued the warning last Friday.

The bureau vowed to seize future Shell shipments arriving from February to May this year amounting to an estimated $923 million. The bureau made the threat after discovering alleged deficient tax assessments of catalytic cracked gasoline and light catalytic cracked gasoline imports from 2004 to 2009.

India: City reels under LPG shortage

Owing to the relocation of a supply depot from Nabha to Jalandhar, the city is reeling under acute shortage of LPG. According to reliable sources, “Earlier, a majority of LPG agencies used to get supply from the bottling plant at Bhawanigarh Road in Nabha. But since the the supply has been shifted from Nabha to Jalandhar, it has affected the regular supply of LPG with backlog spreading from 10 to 15 days.”

Nepal: 9-hr a day power cut

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has imposed a whopping nine hours a day load-shedding from Sunday.

Earlier, there was eight hours a day load-shedding for five days and seven hours a day for two days in a week.

The power cut hours have been increased as hydropower projects are generating less electricity due to receding water levels in the rivers. All the hydropower projects in the country -- except Kulekhani -- are built on run-of-river model.

Pakistan: Pakistanis freeze in cold

Sagheerullah Khan huddles before a small fire outside his shop in northwest Pakistan, struggling to stay warm and keep his business alive despite five days without electricity.

Other shopkeepers join him and gather around the flames in the poor Badhber neighbourhood on the outskirts of northwest capital Peshawar, lamenting crushing power outages and gas shortages that have plunged them back in time.

"Long power cuts and a lack of natural gas have made life miserable for us during the extremely cold season," Khan tells AFP as he sets the flame of his ageing kerosene lamp to try and light up the pitch-black night.

Venezuela: Venezuela oil output unhurt by power cuts - govt

Businesses and homes are being hit by rolling blackouts aimed at sharply reducing power consumption. The hydroelectricity-dependent country is suffering a severe drought caused by the EL Nino weather anomaly.

"Production has not been affected at all, neither has refining or upgrading," Ramirez said late on Friday.

Some of Venezuela's oil is a tar-like crude that has to upgraded to a lighter liquid before it can be exported.