Gabon capital's power, and water, shortageBy XINHUA | Thursday, April 19  2012 at  14:13

Gabon's energy minister Regis Immongault said on Tuesday that about 40 MW of electricity is required to brightly light up the town of Libreville which hosts about half of the country's population -- an estimated 1.5 million people.

The deficit has been caused by the disruption of supply from a gas station situated at Owendo in the periphery of Libreville.

"A leakage that was detected on the gas pipeline to the city forced Perenco Company to disrupt gas supply," said a statement issued by the energy minister through his spokesman Alex Lewobi Lendindji.

The gas was coming from the oil rich region of Port-Gentil (south-west) and was being transported to Libreville through a pipeline.

For the last two days, several parts of Libreville have been in darkness. Gabon's Energy and Water Company (SEEG) which has a monopoly of electricity distribution is organizing power rationing to limit the duration of black-outs in the concerned districts of the capital.

According to the statement, out of the 200 MW of electricity that is used in the Gabonese capital, 100 MW is supplied from hydroelectric power stations while 40 MW is supplied from Owendo gas station. The rest is produced from thermal power stations.

The minister promised that normalcy will be restored by Saturday and he asked the residents of the capital to prudently use electricity between 7 pm to mid-night.
The people have been advised not to use equipment that will consume a lot of electricity like air conditioners.

The government has also asked industries to reduce production temporarily in early hours of the evening.

Besides electricity, the Gabonese capital is also faced with a serious shortage of water. Several districts of Libreville have not had water for several months.