LNG

China: China Plans to Increase LNG Imports on Gas Shortage

China plans to increase its imports of liquefied natural gas to ease a domestic shortage of the fuel, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today, citing Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration.

China’s gas companies should sign more long-term LNG contracts in order to take advantage of a global surplus of the fuel, Zhang was quoted as saying in the Xinhua report.

India: India likely to face coal shock

India could face a ‘coal shock’ sooner than later if the power utilities do not wake up to the fuel security risks from stagnating domestic production and start planning long-term coal imports to meet the fuel shortage. Although big power producers like NTPC are already meeting domestic coal shortages with imports, they have not shown any urgency to get into long-term import contracts.

Meanwhile, China’s coal demand has overtaken its domestic production, forcing the world’s largest coal producer to import coal. Till 2006, China was a net exporter of coal.

Bangladesh: Quick energy fix mulled

Faced with a deep energy crisis due to gas shortage that cannot be overcome overnight, the government considers importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), increasing efficiency of bulk gas users to reduce demands and setting standards to promote energy efficient electrical equipment, says Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister.

India: Heat wave continues, outages become longer

You know peak summer has arrived when an electricity crisis grapples the city. As the temperature remained over 40 degree mark, large parts of the capital went without power for long durations in the morning and afternoon hours. Discoms held up their hands in helplessness, claiming that the problem was the low frequency in the Northern Grid. They also claimed that they had made sufficient tie ups for the summer load.

The problem recurs every summer when the demand shoots up in Delhi as well as in other states. With Delhi highly dependent on the grid for meeting consumer load, the capital has to suffer rotational loadshedding when the grid trips on account of overdrawing by other states.

Malaysia: East Coast load shedding done on purpose - Jimmy

SRI Tanjung Assemblyman Jimmy Wong claimed frequent power cuts due to load shedding in the East Coast were deliberate and meant "to punish the people there for objecting to the coal-fired power plant".

"I want to talk about the frequent electricity disruptions perhaps not only in Tawau but throughout the East Coast. I want to ask the Infrastructure Development Minister why this only happens in our place," he said.

"I was informed that the power shedding is done purposely to teach the people from Sandakan up to Tawau for objecting to the coal-fired power plant," he claimed.

Namibia: Kudu gas project delayed

Namibia and Angola plan to build a joint $7 billion hydro power plant on a river that runs along their common border to produce 400 megawatts of electricity, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Daniel Zaire, the deputy director for electricity at the Namibian ministry of mines and energy, told Reuters the construction of the project on the Kunene river would start by next March, and would be carried out by Brazilian companies.

Nigeria: Petrol truckers strike cripples Nigerian cities

A strike by Nigerian petrol tanker drivers has triggered an acute gasoline and diesel shortage in the commercial capital Lagos, crippling business in Africa's top oil-producer on Tuesday.

Most petrol stations in Lagos and the inland capital Abuja were without gasoline as the strike called by the Petrol Tanker Drivers' unit of the oil workers' union NUPENG entered a fourth day.

Yemen: Frequency of blackouts increases

Government negotiations with a British Company over buying power generators are well underway, according to official sources. These power generators are expected to bring the deteriorating electricity situation to an end.

The duration of electricity cuts have noticeably increased. On Friday, power outages across the capital lasted for up to four hours causing losses to businesses and disrupting studies.

The blackouts were due to the heavy rains which damaged a large part of the electricity station’s power generators, according to officials in the Ministry of Electricity.