| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela may shut metal output to save power-paper |
| 2010-01-06 |
| Venezuela may be forced to close its aluminum, steel and bauxite operations in the south-east of the nation due to a drought and electricity shortfall, a minister was quoted as saying on Monday. "If we have to close the basic industries in Guayana, because the Guri (reservoir) is drying up, well we have to close them," Electricity Minister Angel Rodriguez said in an interview with financial daily El Mundo. "We have to avoid the reservoir drying up completely." The Guri, one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams, close to the Orinoco river, supplies about two-thirds of the South American oil-producing nation's electricity, but is at dangerously low levels, officials say. President Hugo Chavez's government has imposed electricity rationing across the nation, from Caracas shopping-malls to the state-owned heavy industries in Guayana state that consume around a quarter of the nation's power output. But after drastic cuts already at aluminum smelters Venalum and Alcasa, plus steel mill Sidor, the industries may need to be shut altogether to ease strain on the system, Rodriguez told the newspaper. "In other countries, they have closed industries. So if we, because of the emergency situation, have to close industries, ministries, and change working hours, we will have to. And the Guayana basic industries form part of this." The minister gave no timetable for taking a decision on closing the basic industries. The Chavez government blames an unprecedented drought, and soaring demand during five years of economic growth from 2004-2008, for the strain on the power-grid. But critics say negligence and lack of investment during Chavez's nearly 11 years in power are to blame. Sidor, which was nationalized from Argentina-based Ternium (TX.N) in 2008, said last week it was installing five generators to compensate for power-rationing affecting its production. It has not quantified the impact on output, which was forecast at 3.61 million tonnes of liquid steel for 2009. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Shoes for Industry! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-01-06 22:48 |
| #6 During China's Great Leap Forward, citizens were "urged" to turn in their metal tools/utensils to be melted down so that the People's Republic would meet its metal smelting quota or goal. Real reason was to disarm the public. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2010-01-06 15:28 |
| #5 five years of economic growth from 2004-2008 |
| Posted by: ed 2010-01-06 14:56 |
| #4 Is it time to eat the seed-grain? |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2010-01-06 11:22 |
| #3 five years of economic growth from 2004-2008 Ha! In their friggin' dreams maybe. Another beautiful country run into the ground by leftist a##holes. |
| Posted by: Spot 2010-01-06 08:12 |
| #2 Mmmm, socialism. Is there anything is can't *bleep* up? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-01-06 03:01 |
| #1 Any word on that really spiffy new D'Anconia Copper mine? |
| Posted by: AzCat 2010-01-06 00:39 |
