Australia: Miners hobbled by gas shutdown at Apache Energy

[phantom power]

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in revenue could be wiped from the balance sheets of mining companies affected by the shutdown of Apache Energy's Varanus Island gas processing plant in Western Australia.

Many of the miners have been forced to switch to diesel, a much more expensive and strictly short-term solution.

(...)

He said the lack of fuel might force mining companies to shut their operations temporarily and make staff take accrued annual leave, keeping only skeleton crews on site.

"There aren't enough tankers to go around . . . and they can't be diverted from existing operations," he said.

"The possibility of getting new fuel supplies for back-up power to some of these sites is probably pretty negligible, certainly in the quantity that they would need."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23817299-664,00.html