Southeast Asia’s severe heatwave is pushing temperatures and power demand to new records, straining grids and prompting traders in the region to bulk up on natural gas cargoes.
More than three dozen districts across Thailand’s 77 provinces have seen record temperatures last month, generally the hottest month of the year, with new highs beating records held as far back as 1958, data from the Thai Meteorological Department showed.
In the Philippines, temperatures reached a record of 38.8oC in the capital, Manila, on Saturday and have since been even higher in other areas of the main Luzon island, national weather forecaster PAGASA said. New warnings were issued yesterday over potential disruption to electricity supplies amid extra demand.
Photo: Reuters
“Our consumption has suddenly increased because it’s very hot,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr told reporters on Monday, saying the cooling demand is overloading power systems.
Thailand’s power usage surged to another record of 36,699 megawatts on Monday amid soaring temperatures, data on the state energy regulator’s Web site showed. That was the third time demand hit a new peak in about a week.
State-owned energy company PTT purchased a prompt delivery shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help feed the surging power demand, traders with knowledge of the matter said. PTT is considering buying more LNG, which is used primarily for power generation, the traders said.
PetroVietnam Gas is also looking to procure an LNG shipment late next month to avoid a shortfall, traders said.
In Myanmar, the region’s poorest economy, outages have already worsened in cities including Yangon, with many townships only seeing a few hours of electricity in recent days.
The Thai Meteorological Department advised people to avoid lengthy outdoor activities with maximum temperatures in most regions expected to top 40oC yesterday. The health ministry last week said that heat-related deaths had risen to about 30 nationwide this year.
The northern province of Lampang has seen the highest temperature so far this year at 44.2oC, just shy of the highest temperature ever recorded in Thailand — 44.6oC — last seen in 2016 and last year.
The office of the nation’s Islam spiritual leader prompted followers to pray for rain this weekend, local media reported. Wat Pho, one of the most well-known Buddhist temples, started sprinkling water on its compound to give tourists relief from the weather.
The Philippines’ heat index, which takes into account humidity and measures the temperature felt by individuals, hit a high of 53oC on Sunday, the weather forecaster said, indicating incidents of heat strokes were imminent.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
IT’S A DEAL? Including the phrase ‘overlapping claims’ in a Chinese-Indonesian joint statement over the weekend puts Jakarta’s national interests at risk, critics say Indonesia yesterday said it does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbors over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries. Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimizing Beijing’s vast claims. In 2016,
RSS