Thai PM urges people to help save energy in April

BANGKOK, Feb 23 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged the public to help save energy, especially in the first half of April when gas supply from neighbouring Myanmar will be temporarily disrupted for maintenance on its Yanada gas field platform. Speaking during her TV and radio weekly programme on Saturday morning, Yingluck confirmed that Myanmar will temporarily suspend its natural gas supply to Thailand from April 5-14, 2013, causing worries to the government on possible insufficient electricity supply to people in Thailand during the summer period, as Myanmar’s natural gas produces about 6,400 megawatts of electricity per day in the country. Yingluck admitted that there might be a power blackout, especially in Bangkok and some parts of the Thai South on April 5, the day domestic power consumption is expected to peak. Yingluck said that her Cabinet has asked government and state enterprise offices to help save energy by 10 per cent yearly and private industrial plants have also been requested to suspend their production on April 5. According to the Thai premier, the situation after that date is expected to improve due to a public holiday in Thailand; while domestic reserves for both bunker and diesel oil are projected to increase if Myanmar cannot complete its maintenance of the gas field on schedule. The prime minister acknowledged that the Ministry of Energy will conduct an emergency energy drill next month, calling on people to, therefore, believe in her government’s plan to cope with expected insufficient domestic power supply during the period. (TNA)