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Diesel shortages continue in Western Canada
Diesel shortage could last for weeks
Fuel stations in Western Canada are still experiencing a fuel shortage, and it could be a while before resources are back to normal. The current shortage began about a month and a half ago, after an explosion at a Regina refinery, reducing its diesel production by 20 per cent.
21 November, 2011
As a one-two hit to the industry, production at Suncor's refinery in Edmonton was slowed down by a third-party's hydrogen shortage. As a result, stations across the region started rationing fuel: some in Fort St. John as low as a 200 litre daily limit. Since then, Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal says that their hydrogen supply was replaced late last week, and the idle units are back in operation.
However, it will still take weeks for diesel supplies to return to normal, according to Ted Stoner, Vice-President of the Western Canada Division of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute. He explains that during late fall and winter, supply and demand for diesel is already tight, and "wrinkles" like those in Regina and Edmonton "throw everything for a loop".
"It's going to take weeks before the inventory start to build up," he suspects, adding it will come back very gradually. That's all with the hope that nothing else goes wrong.
Although limits that were in place earlier this month have largely been removed, service stations in Fort St. John still say they are low on supply. UFA Petroleum says it isn't limiting customers, but is still only pumping diesel from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Co-op Petroleum still has a 300 litre limit for its cardholders. Both the Petro-Canada Bulk Plant and the Husky Oil Bulk Plant currently don't have a limit on diesel sales, but a representative at Husky says that if the shortage continues they're going to have to place restrictions.
STATE’S DIESEL RESERVES DOWN TO ONE WEEK
AFTER RUSSIA RECENTLY INCREASED THE PRICE OF ITS EXPORTED DIESEL FUEL, THE MONGOLIAN GOVERNMENT ELIMINATED ITS EXCISE TAX ON THE FUEL TO KEEP THE PRICE CONSUMERS PAY FROM GOING UP.
Our correspondent spoke with an official from the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority about fuel prices and the country’s fuel reserves. The official said that Russia has reduced its petroleum exports because of a domestic petroleum shortage.
Mongolia imports 30,000 tons of diesel, 10,000 tons of 92 octane gasoline, and 10,000 tons 80 octane gasoline every month.
If the amount imported from Russia is insufficient, the remainder will be imported from Latvia and Lithuania.
The official added that the state has enough 80 octane gasoline in reserve to last 16 days, enough 92 octane gasoline for 15 days, and enough diesel for a week. The official said diesel imports have been reduced due to railroad transportation delays.
MONGOLIA IS FACING SEVERE GASOLINE SHORTAGES FROM RUSSIA
IS RUSSIA BLACKMAILING MONGOLIA?
21 November, 2011
It is now over a month since the Diesel shortages have started in Mongolia, Russia claims that those shortages are due to their own supply problems and that this cannot be helped.
There seems to be no other proof or indication of why Russia would be having diesel shortages as production has remained unchanged and no new demand has come up. On the other side it also seems a bizarre coincidence that this fuel shortage comes as the Mongolian Parliament is set to announce the winners of the Tavan Tolgoi bid and Roscoft is negotiating a deal to install a 100 fuel station across the Mongolian territory.
At the time when Diesel shortages have started to appear across Mongolia, the Mongolian Government has assured the people that shortages will not impact the supply of A-92 Fuel across the country yet we have recently seen signs that supply of A-92 Fuel has started being constrained.
Limited fuel vouchers for the fuel were being issued yesterday while some petrol stations now only serve regular customers who carry loyalty cards and do not accept new customers. Further to this, a black market supply of fuel has started on street side stands where people are now selling bottles of petrol and diesel for a 50% margin on normal fuel prices.
The ministry of transport has warned that the supply of fuel might be unstable up to next September.
As a background to this situation, Russia has yet again pulled out its trump card of supposed “unpaid debts” remaining from the subsidies Mongolia received during the Soviet days. Mongolia denies the debt or rather the enormous size of it but it is still a strong argument in favour of Russia.
The question of course on every one’s mind is “will the Mongolian government cave in and be subjected to Russia’s blackmail or will they be able to retain the upper hand.
Winter woes: Tempers soar as gas runs low in Rawalpindi
RAWALPINDI:
Many areas in the city remained without natural gas supply for hours in the morning on Sunday. The supply was not resumed till late in the afternoon.
21 November, 2011
Besides domestic users, commuters continued to suffer in the absence of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for the fourth consecutive day.
The CNG filling stations could not open up because of the low pressure of natural gas.
The supply of gas could not be resumed to the domestic users till as late as 3pm in some areas.
“I had to get a cylinder [of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)] refilled to prepare breakfast for my family. My children had to wait, as I refilled the cylinder for Rs1,500,” said Hadayat Ahmed, a resident of Quaid-i-Azam Colony, near Army Aviation Base in Dhamial.
The gas was also in short supply in the suburban areas, where people used wood as fuel.
“We are thinking of buying LPG cylinders or collecting woods for fuel. One needs fuel to survive,” said Muhammad Awais, who lives at Asghar Mall scheme.
Anger reigned high among the residents, who said the long power outages in summer had been replaced with acute gas shortage in winter.
The worst hit were the commuters and public transporters as the CNG stations were allowed to sell the gas, but were not supplied with the commodity.
According to the load management plan for gas, the CNG stations in Islamabad and Rawalpindi region close up on Thursday morning
and the supply is resumed on Saturday evening every week.
But Sunday saw people waiting for hours as the gas pressure was too low in the morning and afternoon for the cars to be refuelled.
India: Coal supply shortage may further trip industrial growth numbers
21 November, 2011
An examination of three broad categories in the otherwise dismal two-year low industrial growth of 1.9 per cent in September will show one silver lining: electricity. But, crucially, that month also saw a 17 per cent decline in the contracting coal output. Now, that shows a potential to dampen the growth of this crucial sector in the coming months, according to analysts.
However, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) maintains it does not see any deficit in coal supply. For, the country’s largest company in the electricity sector has its domestic and imported requirements tied up for a year.
Analysts, on the other hand, caution that if domestic coal supplies do not improve significantly, the impact may be felt in the form of forward linkage in electricity and manufacturing in the coming months.
Coal contracted 17.8 per cent in September year-on-year on top of a 15 per cent decline in August.
In fact from April-September, it has grown only by a just 2.5 per cent year-on-year. For, flooding of mines, bandhs and strikes pulled down coal supplies from the two main coal companies — Kolkata-headquartered Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries in Andhra Pradesh.
Economists argue that the vigorous electricity numbers till September will not be as promising in the coming months since the effect of coal shortage comes with a lag effect. Electricity generation grew by 9.4 per cent in the first six months, against a meagre 3.8 per cent in the corresponding period last financial year.
Kuljit
For article GO HERE
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