policy

Australia: Heatwave states brace for more power, transport outages

Residents of Victoria and South Australia are bracing for another day of power and transport problems, as the heatwave continues.

Both states have endured another hot night and the heat will be extreme again today, with Melbourne expecting a top of 43 degrees Celsius and Adelaide 42C.

Australia: Victoria's power hits dangerous low

Victorian power demand is expected to hit a new record today, depleting electricity reserves to critical lows, as the state sweats through the second day of a heatwave.

Demand on the state's electrical grid exceeded 10,000 megawatts yesterday, a new high, leaving just 320 megawatts of capacity in the state, according to Paul McArdle of power-monitoring service Global Roam. The 3% capacity held in reserve totalled less than the average output of a typical 500-megawatt unit in a powerstation.

Bulgaria: Lessons from the gas crises

Bulgaria was one of the countries worst affected by the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. What lessons are there for Bulgaria to learn?

The first lesson of the Ukraine-Russia gas dispute is that no bilateral solutions are good solutions, no matter how privileged a country's bilateral relations with Russia might seem. The Bulgarian government relied happily on its agreement with Gazprom and was totally unprepared for the crisis. Unlike Hungary, which, after the first crisis in 2006 started building an expensive storage facility, or Latvia, which decided to pay above the market price for gas in order to keep Russia off their back, Bulgaria - almost entirely dependent on Russian gas - expected both lower gas prices and secure deliveries from Gazprom.

Haiti: La Première ministre affirme qu'il n'y a pas de pénurie de carburant

The First Minister Michèle Pierre Louis invites Haïtiens not fall into panic ensuring that there is no shortage of fuel. Accompanied by Minister of Finance and several other government officials, Ms. Pierre Louis has argued that the company Esso, which represents 15% of the market, is the only company to report a shortage of 95 octane gasoline.

Kenya: Kenol, KPC row raises fears of oil shortage

A refusal by Kenol to recognise a committee that allocates space at the Kipevu terminal is raising fears of a shortage of diesel oil, with the marketer sending a protest note to the Energy ministry over the matter.

Kenol has dismissed the all inclusive industry allocation committee, headed by Shell, as lacking legal powers, and wants storage space for its imported oil products at the terminal.

Philippines: Amid shortage , Shell jacks up LPG price

Citing higher cost, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. has hiked on Thursday the price of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products by P4 per kilo or P44 per 11-kilogram LPG cylinder.

The price increase came amid complaints of tightness of LPG supply.

Shell spokesman Roberto Kanapi said the recent price adjustment was due to higher acquisition cost of latest LPG imports.

Bolivia: En Bolivia escasean el gas y el gasoil por falta de producción

Long lines of people in the streets with empty bottles of household gas and queues of vehicles at service stations of fuel oil, are now everyday images in the main cities of Bolivia, two and a half years of the nationalization of hydrocarbons.

The rationing encouraged speculation and the black market, with the emergence of, for example, street dealers at prices higher than those specified, in Bolivia the price of fuel is subsidized.

Bolivia: Crisis se agrava en Bolivia

The lack of fuel is being felt ever more strongly in Bolivia, where every day are more people with empty gas bottles and forming long queues at gas stations across the country.

Canada (Alberta): Diesel still in short supply

A shortage of diesel in the province has left many industries suffering with a lack of fuel to have their vehicles up and running.

One industry taking a hit is the busing industry. Kathryn Taylor, a school bus driver says it seems that buses are the lowest on the totem pole. Taylor found this to be frustrating as she went to fill up her bus one day at a gas station and found herself being turned away. “The kids have to get to school, too,” said Taylor.

Dominican Republic: Much talk as 20-hour blackouts punish Dominican Republic

While blackouts as long as 20 hours punish the country, State-owned power companies (CDEEE) vice president Radhamés Segura heads a meeting with the electrical sector’s leaders to seek an end to the crisis.

Northern Ireland: Oil shortage 'worst in 20 years'

Several fuel distributors in Londonderry have said the heating oil shortage over the past week was the worst in almost 20 years. Many firms have been unable to make deliveries because they are running so low on oil.

South Africa: South African Mines Demand Power Shortage Protocols (Update1)

The South African government must put in place protocols to handle power shortages because mining companies were ``soft targets'' during electricity cuts earlier this year, the country's Chamber of Mines said.

``The proposed protocol needs to be approved by Cabinet and supported by appropriate legislation to ensure its enforcement,'' Chamber of Mines President Sipho Nkosi said in a prepared speech distributed in Johannesburg today. ``Among the provisions that need to be included is one that will rank customers in terms of their contribution to the economy.''