29 May. 2023: No natural gas in Columbia ? Read to know more.
Six million people in southwest Colombia were without natural gas till Wednesday of last week owing to what the authorities described as a "thermal anomaly" that might be harming pipes.
According to utility Gasses de Occidente, there has been "a total restriction on the natural gas service" in the western districts of Cauca and Valle del Cauca. Gasses de Occidente is a company that serves natural gas to customers in Colombia. The company offers services for installing, distributing, inspecting, and maintaining natural gas.
According to the mines ministry, the problem also affects five additional departments in the country's centre and southwest.
The fuel is used by two-thirds of Colombia's 50 million residents for cooking and other purposes.
Images posted to social media show that some residents started using firewood to cook and that others waited in queue for electric burners. Furthermore, a number of gas-powered public transit vehicles have broken down.
The anomaly that shut down the gas pipelines may have been "the product of an underground fire" in the vicinity of a volcano and as per the pipeline operator it could take a week to restore service.
Jorge Ivan Ospina, the mayor of Cali, Colombia's third largest city, told the media, "This brings... a crisis that we had not experienced for a long time."