Syrian PM says power crisis worsens as militants target plants

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - Electricity is being increasingly rationed in government-controlled areas of Syria after an escalation in attacks on power plants by Islamist militants. Prime Minister Wael Halaki, addressing parliament on Wednesday, cited several major attacks since May on gas plants in the desert near Palmyra since its capture by Islamic State. "In the last two months there has been a systematic targeting by these terror groups of gas fields and plants and gas pipelines towards power plants. This has reduced supplies to modest amounts," Halaki said. Syria, once one of the eastern Mediterranean's leading oil and natural gas producers, has seen electricity generation fall to nearly a quarter of its pre-war 9,000 megawatt capacity, Halaki said. The figure includes about 1,500 megawatts of hydroelectricity from two dams along the Euphrates close to Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants in eastern Syria. Electricity was being rationed for longer periods, ranging from 8 to 18 hours "from one province to the other depending on security circumstances," Halaki said. Before Syria's civil war began in 2011, foreign firms had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing Syria's gas fields that are mainly in the Palmyra desert area, to reduce dependence on more expensive heavy fuel for power generation. Many projects have been put on hold. Halaki said several projects were in the pipeline to offset losses by boosting generating capacity of the main Deir Ali power plant in Damascus along with a new 750 megawatt plant at a cost of 900 million euros. He did not give further details. Syria has had to increasingly resort to imported petroleum products for power generation with much of its oil fields now in the hands of the jihadists who control swathes of the country's eastern border area near Iraq. Halaki said oil production was now less than 10,000 barrels per day from a pre-crisis production of around 380,000 bpd. He did not say where the imports came from. The US energy department says Iran continues to supply Syria with approximately 60,000 bpd of crude oil, but this level is insufficient to meet demand. On Tuesday, Syria's al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front said it had taken over the Zezoun power plant, one of the country's major thermal power plants in the northwest of Syria. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Janet Lawrence)