At least nine provinces scattered throughout the country will
face frequent power cuts this winter, when consumption hits another
peak period, the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC)
warned at a Monday press conference.
A total of 24 provinces experienced blackouts in the first nine
months of this year, even though power generated in the period
climbed 14.5 percent year-on-year to 1.6 trillion
kilowatts-hours.
The nationwide power shortage surpassed 30 million kilowatts
this summer, according to SDRC deputy director Xu Zhimin. Xu is in
charge of economic development.
The supply-demand relationship in the coal, electricity, oil and
transportation sectors remains strained, said SDRC spokesman Cao
Yushu, and soaring international oil prices have introduced an
element of uncertainty that threatens the domestic price system and
economic development.
According to Xu, China processed 202 million tons of crude oil
in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of
15.4 percent. The figure includes 130 million tons of domestically
produced oil -- inching up 3 percent year-on-year -- and 85.8
million tons of imports, which jumped 36.2 percent.
Working programs should be drafted to ensure that power supplies
to households, agriculture and major production units are not
affected, Cao suggested. Production, transport and sale of coal and
other important materials should be streamlined and coordinated to
ease the negative impact of international oil price
fluctuations.
(China Daily October 26, 2004)