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Turkey announces two-hour power cuts to save energy 2.45 p.m. ET (1957 GMT) November 29, 1999 ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Turkey will cut the power supply to the capital for two hours a day to save energy because of a drop in the supply of natural gas from Russia, officials said Monday.

The state pipeline company BOTAS said that due to freezing weather in Russia and Ukraine, Moscow has been able to supply Turkey with only 700 million cubic feet of gas per day, down from the usual 945 million cubic feet per day.

That and the need for gas to heat homes in central Turkey, which is facing bitter cold, have left power plants short of energy.

"Because of that situation, we have started previously unplanned power cuts to economize'' on electricity, the Anatolia news agency quoted Muzaffer Selvi, head of the state-run electricity company, TEAS, as saying.

BOTAS said it was cutting gas supplies to clients who do not use gas for heating.

The power cuts to Ankara will end once natural gas supplies return to normal. The electricity shortage has also led to water shortages in the city since there is not enough electricity for water pumps.

Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer said the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom had promised to try to increase its input to Turkey as soon as possible.

Authorities said the areas in western Turkey hit by two deadly earthquakes since August would not be affected by the energy shortage.

On Monday, the Russian government approved an underwater gas pipeline that would double gas supplies to Turkey. The Russian parliament still must ratify the "Blue Stream'' pipeline project.

Turkey is divided over whether to support the Russian project, which is due for completion in 2005, or rely on a U.S.-supported Caspian pipeline that would carry gas from Turkmenistan.

-- Disgusted (not@just.now), November 29, 1999