Argentina cold snap causes energy woes

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A cold snap in Argentina led to electricity and natural gas shortages this week, idling factories and taxis and causing sporadic blackouts in the capital.

Beset by the coldest May since 1962, millions of residents fired up space heaters, straining Buenos Aires’ electrical grid for three nights and forcing authorities to slash power supply nationwide and briefly cut domestic natural gas provisions and exports to Chile.


Grumbling taxi drivers waited for hours in lines stretching several blocks to fill up their black-and-yellow cabs with scarce compressed natural gas. Some protested by tossing garbage into the streets during rush hour Thursday, causing traffic jams.

“I went all over town to 15 service stations and couldn’t find compressed gas anywhere,” said Ernesto Gorena, whose taxi was among some 70 percent of the city’s natural gas-powered fleet that was temporarily idled.

AP