Global: Energy security body calls for 'urgent' review of impact of oil shortages

An industry organisation that includes Virgin and Yahoo has called on the government to "urgently" reassess its dismissive view about the potential threat and impact of oil shortages.

The call from the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security comes after revelations in the Guardian that there is dissent inside the International Energy Agency (IEA) about how soon the world may run out of supplies.

Indonesia: PLN to continue rolling blackout across E. Java

To help reduce the frequency of rolling blackouts due to limited supply, customers should use less electricity these days, state owned electricity company PT PLN says.

East Java's PLN corporate spokesman Agus Widayanto said his company would still implement rolling blackouts.

"This is due to some damage to the equipment in our power stations including in Suralaya, Paiton, Muara Karang and Grati," he said.

Moreover, he added, the Saguling and Cirata hydro-power power stations could not operate optimally due to insufficient water because of the prolonged drought.

Nigeria: Why Nigeria Will Miss 6000MW Power Target In Dec.

Though the government has repeatedly assure that it would achieve the 6,000MW of national power supply by December, The Guardian investigation has revealed that except miracle happens, the contrary may be the case.

This conclusion is based on the realities on ground in some of the electricity generating stations in the country.

It was reliably gathered that Jebba Hydro Station,which has capacity to generate 578.4MW is currently producing 270MW. Shiroro Hydro, Niger State, with an installed capacity for 600MW is producing only 300MW, and Kainji Hydro Station (760MW) produces 390.

Nepal: East Nepal reels from fuel shortage

Shortage of petroleum products has become severe in the Eastern Region.

Putting forward its 17-point demand, All Nepal Petroleum Labourer Association, affiliated to the Unified CPN (Maoist), has closed all pumps for the past five days, thus creating crisis of petroleum products.

The prolonged closure has affected all sectors with factories, transportation and schools being worst hit. School buses have been garaged for want of fuel.

Several efforts to cease the shortage holding talks among the local administration, pump owners and workers have not yield result yet.

Nepal: 16-hr power cut from Wednesday

Brace for more power cuts as the coalition government has no plans for solving the load-shedding woes. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Monday said that it would go ahead with weekly outage of 16-hour, starting from Wednesday. Though the government has claimed that the load-shedding would not exceed 10 hours a week during winter, it failed to live up to its promises.

Philippines: 'No investments with blackouts '

If the government doesn't address the worsening power brownouts in the Visayas immediately, investors will take their capital elsewhere, Sen. Francis Escudero said in a press release from his office, after reports of “worsening” power outages in Cebu, Panay, and Negros .

Reports said rotating power outages last week were caused by power plants tripping, and the reason given by power officials were the aging power plants in Cebu .

“Our economic planners forecast growth of about 2.8 percent for 2009 on the premise that last year's net foreign direct investments will be replicated. But if we can't ensure a consistent power supply, then investors are unlikely to come,” Escudero said in the press release.

Sri Lanka: Long queues are back at Sri Lankan filling stations

Long queues are forming back at many fuel stations in and around Colombo due to the continuing union action by the Ceylon Petroleum corporation (CPC) workers.

The unions said that not a single fuel bowser has left the Kolonnawa or Muthurajawela oil storages since last night excluding the delivery to essential services such as Health and security forces.

Zambia: Fuel crisis hits Eastern Province again

MOST districts in Eastern Province have been hit by a fuel shortage barely one week after a seemingly stable supply of the commodity.

The fuel situation had partially improved when President Rupiah Banda visited the province.

A survey conducted in some districts revealed that most of the service stations had run out of fuel.
By yesterday morning, none of the three service stations in Chipata had petrol.
One of the fuel attendants at BP filling station said the service station only had diesel.

Bangladesh: Crisis management stressed to solve energy crunch

State Minister for Energy, Power and Mineral Resources Enamul Haque said Saturday Bangladesh has to take a raft of pragmatic programmes to solve its nagging energy crisis.
"We have to put emphasis on crisis management side by side with the implementation of short, mid and long-term initiatives to solve the acute crisis," he said at a seminar in the city.

Mechanical Engineering Divisional Committee of Engineers Institution of Bangladesh organised the seminar styled 'Gas Reserve and its Optimum Utilisation' at the institution with its president Dr Eng SM Nazrul Islam in the chair.

Dominican Republic: Energy Crisis Continues

With less than three months on the job as the Vice-President for the Dominican Corporation of State Electric Companies [es] (CDEEE for its initials in Spanish), businessman Celso Marranzini has seen the need to look for help outside of the country to resolve the serious energy problem, which has recently reached critical levels.

A delegation headed by Marranzini traveled to South Korea to seek technical assistance to help solve the energy problem [es], in which half of the electrical plants have been out of service under the argument that they are under maintenance. However, this has resulted in an energy deficit reaching 600 Megawatts, in which Dominicans have been under 9-10 hours of power outages per day.

India: Thefts worsen power struggle

Four electrical engineers walk a grimy lane through a labyrinth of decaying residential buildings, and softly knock on a door.

“This is a power raid, Mr Uttam Chand,” they inform the man who answers, flashing their badges. He is asked to step aside and offer no resistance.

While one engineer inspects the meter, another scrutinises the latest electricity bill and two rush to the attic to investigate a spider’s web of power cables dangling from the roof.

“Your meter is tampered,” declares Vikrant Seth, the engineer leading the raid. “It shows a low energy reading despite strong consumption.”