Security boost after Mexico blasts

Felipe Calderon, the Mexican president, has ordered the country's military to protect the country's key energy installations following multiple attacks on gas processing and petrochemical plants in the past month. The attacks have prompted more than a dozen multinational companies to temporarily shut down or scale back their operations.

The leftist Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) claimed responsibility for the attacks and has vowed to attack again unless the government releases its members from jail.

The blasts hit domestic supplies of natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, crude oil and petrol in central Mexico, and forced the evacuation of some communities. No injuries were reported.

Disrupted supply

Mexico is the world's ninth largest exporter of crude oil and a major US supplier. State oil company Pemex increased its police and army presence at its plants, with helicopter surveillance of its 14,000-kilometre gas pipeline which extends from central Mexico City to Guadalajara. The company has had to repair different sections of the same pipeline which were damaged in the explosions on Tuesday and last Thursday

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