Cold Weather Sparks Energy Shortage in China

BEIJING, Jan. 6 -- Seven provinces are capping their electricity capacity and Beijing is to cut its gas supply to industrial users due to an energy crisis sparked by the cold weather, enorth.com reported today.

A strong cold snap heading to most parts of the southeast has left Shanghai and Chongqing municipality, Jiangsu, Hubei, Henan, Hunan and Jiangxi province to reach their electricity peak forcing a fuel shortage.

While most coal mines in China are located in the north, heavy snow has blocked the railway transportation of coal, the report said.

Beijing was also hit by its heaviest snow for forty years and the municipal government announced a gas emergency yesterday which prompted a reduction in gas to industries in order to satisfy residential use first.

"It goes beyond the regular gas consumption now and the gap is growing bigger," Mu Bingjie, the deputy director of the municipal government, said at a press conference yesterday.