Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

A two-hour blackout hit the Azerbaijani capital Baku and some regions of the country on Friday.

Power was cut off in most districts of Baku and 35-40 percent of Azerbaijani regions from 7 a.m. (local time) on Friday after lightning struck Mingachevir power plant, which supplies electricity to about a third of the country, sparking a fire at a 330 KWt substation, the state-owned energy producer and supplier Azerenergy said in a statement on Friday.

"An air switch and a 330 KWt transformer were damaged as a result of the lightning strike," the statement said.

Azerenergy added that electricity supply to Baku and the affected regions was resumed as a result of work carried out in the shortest possible time.

The fire that occurred at the power plant's facility was extinguished by firefighters of the Emergency Situations Ministry.

The massive power outage had affected operation of the Baku subway and caused traffic problems.

The blackout led to traffic congestion in the city this morning, Baku State Traffic Police Department spokesman Vagif Asadov told the local press on Friday.

"Traffic jams are observed... the Baku police has launched an intensified working regime," Asadov said earlier in the day.

The Baku subway had been temporarily shut down over the power outage, but its operation was resumed shortly thereafter.

The blackout also affected the operation of Azerbaijan Railways. The railway company started transportation using diesel locomotives in both the capital city and in other directions, spokesman Nadir Azmammadov told the local press.

"In spite of the problems with electricity, the transportation of all passengers will be provided even if there might be some delay," Azmammadov said.

The problems with electricity in Baku did not affect the operation of the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, and flights are being carried out on schedule.

According to Azerbaijani state water supplier Azersu, the power outage caused problems with water supply from large tanks and reservoirs, however, the supply has almost been resumed and is being carried out normally.

Electricity supply problems in Baku and Azerbaijani regions have not affected gas supply to domestic consumers, Azerigaz Production Association of the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR said.

The power shortage has not affected the major Azerbaijani Internet service provider Delta Telecom, however, secondary Internet providers experienced some problems.

The power outage paralyzed the operation of most ATMs and POS-terminals, head of AzeriCard Business Development Department Jahangir Mammadov said.

Electricity is usually supplied to ATMs and POS-terminals in the places where they are installed. The problem is not systemic, and after the power outage it is necessary to reload all ATMs, Mammadov said.

Problems with electricity supply have not affected the activity of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the country's largest bank, IBA told local media.

"The bank renders all the transactions without problems, all ATMs and POS-terminals properly operate," the bank said.

Any customer can get a full range of banking services at any branch of the bank, it said.

The blackout did not affect the facilities of BP, which is operator of major oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan, as well as offshore platforms, as the company has its own power generating facilities, BP said on Friday.

Azerbaijan is host to oil companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP, which leads a consortium operating offshore oil and gas fields.

Problems with electricity supply slightly affected the work of the oil company SOCAR's processing enterprises located in the capital, SOCAR said. But it said that despite the short-term problems, at present all the processing enterprises -- oil refineries and a gas processing plant -- operate normally.

According to SOCAR, there were no problems with power supply on SOCAR platforms in the Caspian Sea, in particular, on Oil Rocks and the shallow part of Gunashli field, part of the ACG offshore block of fields, which produce most of Azerbaijan's oil.

"Here power supply is being carried out with our own resources and generation facilities," SOCAR said.