The entire Dominican Republic was blacked out yesterday, a fact that again made front-page news in all the papers. At 3pm yesterday, all formal electricity service ceased to flow across the entire nation. According to Superintendent of Electricity George Reinoso, the system was still recovering from the previous two blackouts that had occurred the day before. Reinoso said the few generators that were online at the time contributed to the general blackout, as operators had not been able stabilize the power grid in spite of the fact there was 920 MW of generation online. Reinoso pointed out that the higher oil prices will certainly have a negative effect on the electricity situation in the DR. ?Just imagine,? he said, ?if we had trouble at US$35 a barrel, how much more difficult it will be with oil at US$44 a barrel.? On the other hand, Reinoso did announce the arrival of a shipment of natural gas for the AES generators at Andres and Los Mina, and the return of the Itabo coal-fired generator to service. According to the superintendent?s office, there was 1.031 MW online yesterday afternoon, or 72% of the demand.