load shedding

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.

Pakistan: Massive loadshedding IRSA to reduce water outflows from Terbela, Mangla

The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is to massively reduce the water outflows from both Terbela and Mangla reservoirs tomorrow (Friday) because of the canal closure that will lead to massive loadshedding as the hydrogenation component in energy mix would touch to the lowest ebb at least till January 31.

“We are going to slash down from tomorrow (Dec 25) the water releases from Terbela to just 10,000 cusecs per day and 5000 cusecs per day from Mangla as the canal closure is to start from December 26 that would last by January 31, 2010.

The canal closure is an annual feature under which all the canals de-silted and barrages which needs some sort of repair get repaired,” a senior official at IRSA told Pakistan Observer.