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Business

Adani’s market losses top $100 billion as shelved share sale spooks investors

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NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) – India’s Adani group shares sank on Thursday after it abandoned its flagship company’s $2.5 billion stock offering, swelling the conglomerate’s market losses to more than $100 billion and sparking worries about the potential systemic impact.

The withdrawal of Adani Enterprises’ (ADEL.NS) share sale caps a dramatic setback for Gautam Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years but dwindled over the past one week after a U.S.-based short-seller published a critical research report.

The events are an embarrassing turn for Adani who has forged partnerships with foreign giants such as France’s TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and investors such as Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company as he pursues a global expansion of businesses that stretch from ports and mining to cement and power.

Adani late on Wednesday called off the share sale as a stocks rout sparked by short-seller Hindenburg’s criticisms intensified, despite the offer being fully subscribed on Tuesday.

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Adani Enterprises plunged nearly 20% on Thursday, trading at its lowest since March 2022. Other group companies were also under pressure – Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) was down 5%, while Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS), Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) and Adani Transmission (ADAI.NS) lost 10% each.

Since Hindenburg’s report was released on Jan. 24, group companies have lost nearly half their combined market value. Adani Enterprises – described as an incubator of Adani’s businesses – alone has lost $24 billion in market capitalisation.

Adani, 60, is also no longer Asia’s richest person, having slid in the rankings of the world’s wealthiest to 16th, as per Forbes’ list, from third last week.

Reuters Graphics

“Unless Adani is able to regain the confidence of institutional investors, stocks will be in freefall,” said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of research at Mumbai-based Profitmart Securities.

Adani’s plummeting stocks have raised concerns about the likelihood of a wider impact on India’s financial system.

India’s central bank has asked local banks for details of their exposure to the Adani group of companies, government and banking sources told Reuters on Thursday. CLSA estimates that Indian banks were exposed to about 40% of the 2 trillion rupees ($24.53 billion) of Adani group’s debt in the fiscal year to March 2022. read more

Citigroup’s (C.N) wealth unit has stopped extending margin loans to its clients against securities of Adani group and decided to cut the loan-to-value ratio for credit against Adani securities to zero on Thursday, said a source.

“We see the market is losing confidence on how to gauge where the bottom can be and although there will be short-covering rebounds, we expect more fundamental downside risks given more private banks (are) likely to cut or reduce margin,” Monica Hsiao, Chief Investment Officer of Hong Kong-based credit fund Triada Capital, said.

In New Delhi, opposition lawmakers submitted notices in the Indian parliament, demanding discussion on the U.S. short-seller’s report. The Congress party demanded setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a Supreme Court monitored investigation into the matter.

ADANI VS HINDENBURG

Hindenburg’s report last week alleged an improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation by the Adani group. It also raised concerns about high debt and the valuations of seven listed Adani companies.

The Adani group has denied the accusations, saying the short-seller’s allegation of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. The group has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it added.

Earlier this week, the Adani group said it had the complete support of investors, but investor confidence has tapered in recent days.

As shares plunged after the Hindenburg report publication, Adani managed to secure the share sale subscriptions on Tuesday even though the stock’s market price was below the issue’s offer price. But on Wednesday, stocks plunged again.

Maybank Securities and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as India’s Life Insurance Corporation (LIFI.NS), had bid for the anchor portion of the issue. Those investments will now be returned by Adani.

In a late night announcement on Wednesday, the billionaire said he was withdrawing the share sale as the company’s “stock price has fluctuated over the course of the day. Given these extraordinary circumstances, the company’s board felt that going ahead with the issue will not be morally correct.”

Early on Thursday, Adani said in a video address the “interest of my investors is paramount and everything is secondary. Hence, to insulate the investors from potential losses we have withdrawn” the share sale.

Reporting by Chris Thomas, Nallur Sethuraman, Tanvi Madan, Ira Dugal, Aftab Ahmed, Sumeet Chatterjee, Anshuman Daga, Summer Zhen; Writing by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

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Business

Adani loses Asia’s richest crown as stock rout deepens to $84 billion

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BENGALURU, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Shares in Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s conglomerate plunged again on Wednesday as a rout in his companies deepened to $84 billion in the wake of a U.S. short-seller report, with the billionaire also losing his title as Asia’s richest person.

Wednesday’s stock losses saw Adani slip to 15th on Forbes rich list with an estimated net worth of $76.8 billion, below rival Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) who ranks ninth with a net worth of $83.6 billion.

Before the critical report by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg, Adani had ranked third.

The losses mark a dramatic setback for Adani, the school-dropout-turned-billionaire whose business interests stretch from ports and airports to mining and cement. Now, the tycoon is fighting to stabilise his businesses and defend his reputation.

It comes just a day after the group managed to muster support from investors for a $2.5 billion share sale for flagship firm Adani Enterprises on Tuesday, in what some saw as a stamp of investor confidence.

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The report by Hindenburg Research last week alleged improper use by the Adani Group of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation. It also raised concerns about high debt and the valuations of seven listed Adani companies.

The group has denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s narrative of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. It has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it added.

Shares in Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), often described as the incubator of Adani businesses, plunged 30% on Wednesday. Adani Power (ADAN.NS) fell 5%, while Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS) slumped 10%, down by its daily price limit.

Adani Transmission (ADAI.NS) was down 6% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) dropped 20%.

Adani Total Gas, a joint venture with France’s Total (TTEF.PA), has been the biggest casualty of the short seller report, losing about $27 billion.

“There was a slight bounce yesterday after the share sale went through, after seeming improbable at a point, but now the weak market sentiment has become visible again after the bombshell Hindenburg report,” said Ambareesh Baliga, a Mumbai-based independent market analyst.

“With the stocks down despite Adani’s rebuttal, it clearly shows some damage on investor sentiment. It will take a while to stabilise,” Baliga added.

Reuters Graphics

SCRUTINY

Underscoring the nervousness in some quarters, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) had stopped accepting bonds of Adani group companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.

Deven Choksey, managing director of KRChoksey Shares and Securities, said this was a big factor in Wednesday’s share slides.

Credit Suisse had no immediate comment.

Scrutiny of the conglomerate is stepping up, with an Australian regulator saying on Wednesday it would review Hindenburg’s allegations to see if further enquiries were warranted.

Data also showed that foreign investors sold a net $1.5 billion worth of Indian equities after the Hindenburg report – the biggest outflow over four consecutive days since Sept. 30.

Headaches for the Adani Group are expected to continue for some time.

India’s markets regulator, which has been looking into deals by the conglomerate, has said it will add Hindenburg’s report to its own preliminary investigation.

State-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) (LIFI.NS)said on Monday it would seek clarifications from Adani’s management on the short seller report. The insurance giant was, however, a key investor in the Adani Enterprises share sale.

Hindenburg said in its report it had shorted U.S.-bonds and non-India traded derivatives of the Adani Group.

Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Bharath Rajeshwaran and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Mark Potter

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Business

Adani’s $2.5 bln share offer backed by investors, despite short-seller attack

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MUMBAI, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s $2.5 billion share sale inched closer to full subscription on Tuesday as investors pumped in funds after a tumultuous week for his group in which its stocks were pummeled by a scathing short-seller report.

The secondary share sale of flagship Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) was subscribed 93% on Tuesday, including the anchor investor portion, Indian stock exchange data showed. The share sale needed at least 90% subscription to go through.

By Monday, the book building process of the country’s largest share sale had received only 3% in bids, amid swirling concerns that the share sale could struggle due to a market rout in Adani’s stocks in recent days.

The share sale is critical for Adani, not just because it is India’s largest follow-on offering and will help cut debt, but also because its success will be seen as a stamp of confidence by investors at a time the tycoon faces one of his biggest business and reputational challenges of recent times.

The offer closes days after Adani’s public faceoff with Hindenburg Research, which on Jan. 24 flagged concerns about the use of tax havens and “substantial debt” at the group. It added that shares in seven Adani listed companies have an 85% downside due to what it called “sky-high valuations”.

That has since sparked $65 billion in cumulative losses for stocks of the Adani group, which called the report baseless.

The support for Adani’s share sale came even as the flagship’s shares were trading at 2,967 rupees, up nearly 2.5% but below the lower end of the share sale price band of 3,112 rupees.

“It looks down to the wire with just a few hours remaining on the last day, but the offering should go through. Institutions seem to be subscribing to capitalise on opportunity to buy in bulk quantities outside the open market,” said Dipan Mehta, founder director of Elixir Equities.

Adani Group’s total gross debt in the financial year ended March 31, 2022, rose 40% to 2.2 trillion rupees ($26.83 billion). Adani said on Sunday – while responding to Hindenburg’s allegations – that over the past decade the group has “consistently de-levered”. Hindenburg later said Adani’s “response largely confirmed our findings and ignored our key questions.”

Reuters Graphics

The group had in recent days repeatedly said investors were standing by its side and the share offering would go through, amid rising concerns that may not happen. Bankers at one point had considered tweaking the pricing of the issue, or extending the sale, Reuters had reported.

Adani even said the Hindenburg report was a “calculated attack” on the country and its institutions while its CFO compared the market rout of its stocks to a colonial-era massacre.

Demand from retail investors remained muted, garnering bids only worth around 10% of the shares on offer for that segment. On Tuesday, demand mostly came from foreign institutional investors, as well as corporates who bid in excess of 1 million rupees each, data showed.

Over the weekend and through Monday, Adani’s firm held extensive discussions with investment bankers and institutional investors to attract subscriptions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding Company (IHC.AD) said it will invest $400 million in the issue.

“The follow-on public offering has to go through to restore investor confidence,” said V. K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The Hindenburg report and its fallout have drawn global attention. Adani is now the world’s eighth richest person, down from third ranking on Forbes’ rich list last week.

Adani Transmission (ADAI.NS) rose 1.6% on Tuesday, after losing 38% since the Hindenburg report, while Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) climbed 3.2%.

Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS) languished at its 10% lower price limit, while Adani Power (ADAN.NS) and Adani Wilmar (ADAW.NS) were down 5% each.

Reuters Graphics

Global index publisher FTSE Russell said on Tuesday it continues to monitor publicly available information on the group, in particular from the Indian regulatory authorities.

Hindenburg said in its report it had shorted U.S.-bonds and non-India traded derivatives of the Adani Group. On Tuesday, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds issued by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone continued their fall into a second week.

($1 = 82.0025 Indian rupees)

Reporting by M. Sriram and Chris Thomas; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Muralikumar Anantharaman

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Business

India’s Adani begins record share sale as short seller triggers $44 billion rout

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MUMBAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Shares of India’s Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) sank 15% on Friday as a scathing report by a U.S. short seller triggered a rout in the conglomerate’s listed firms, casting doubts on how investors will respond to the company’s record $2.45 billion secondary sale.

Seven listed companies of the Adani conglomerate – controlled by one of the world’s richest men Gautam Adani – have lost a combined $43.5 billion in market capitalisation since Wednesday, with U.S. bonds of Adani firms also falling after Hindenburg Research flagged concerns in a Jan. 24 report about debt levels and the use of tax havens.

Adani Group has dismissed the report as baseless and said it is considering whether to take legal action against the New York-based firm.

“There were heavy positions in Adani group (shares), the way they have risen in the last couple of years,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities in New Delhi.

“This is a classic case of panic selling…,” he said, noting the concerns were also spreading to Indian banks with exposure to Adani group’s debt.

The index tracking state-run banks (.NIFTYPSU) was down 4.6%, while the main Nifty Bank index (.NSEBANK) fell 2.7%.

CLSA estimates that Indian banks were exposed to about 40% of the 2 trillion Indian rupees ($24.53 billion) of Adani group debt in the fiscal year to March 2022.

The stunning selloff has cast a shadow over Adani Enterprises’ secondary sale which began on Friday. The anchor portion of the sale saw participation from investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on Wednesday.

The firm has set a floor price of 3,112 rupees ($38.22) a share and a cap of 3,276 rupees. But by midday on Friday, the stock had slumped to 2,875 rupees – well below the lower end of the price offering.

As of 0700 GMT, investors, mostly retail, had bid for around 200,000 shares, compared with the 45.5 million on offer, according to BSE exchange data. Bidding for retail investors will close on Jan. 31.

Shares of other listed Adani firms also plummetted, with Adani Transmission Ltd (ADAI.NS) Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS), Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS) and Adani Ports (APSE.NS) sinking 20% each.

In its report, Hindenburg said key listed Adani Group companies had “substantial debt”, putting the conglomerate on a “precarious financial footing”, and that “sky-high valuations” had pushed the share prices of seven listed Adani companies as much as 85% beyond actual value.

Billionaire U.S. investor Bill Ackman said on Thursday that he found the Hindenburg report “highly credible and extremely well researched.”

Hindenburg said it held short positions in Adani through its U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments, meaning it is betting that their price would fall.

Adani Group has repeatedly faced and dismissed concern about debt levels. It defended itself in a presentation titled “Myths of Short Seller” on Thursday, saying deleveraging by promoters – or key shareholders – was “in a high growth phase”.

Jefferies in a client note said Adani Group had shared details of debt and leverage levels, and that it does not “see material risk arising to the Indian banking sector”.

Adani Group’s consolidated gross debt stood at 1.9 trillion rupees ($23.34 billion), Jefferies said.

Adani has said its debt is at a manageable level and that no investor has raised any concern.

Adani Enterprises’ net profit for the period ended Sept. 30, 2022 doubled to 9 billion Indian rupees ($110.31 million) while its total income nearly tripled to 795 billion Indian rupees, according to its share sale prospectus.

The company’s total liabilities as of September 2022 stood at 869 billion rupees ($10.64 billion), the prospectus showed.

The Adani conglomerate has been diversifying its business interests and last year bought cement firms ACC (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS) from Switzerland’s Holcim (HOLN.S) for $10.5 billion. ACC was down 15% on Friday, while Ambuja plunged up to 25%.

Reporting by M. Sriram and Chris Thomas; Editing by Aditya Kalra, Christopher Cushing and Kim Coghill

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Business

Hindenburg shorts India’s Adani Group, flags debt and accounting concerns

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BENGALURU, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Hindenburg Research said on Wednesday it held short positions in India’s Adani Group, accusing the conglomerate of improper extensive use of entities set up in offshore tax havens and expressing concern about high debt levels.

The report, which comes days ahead of a $2.5 billion share offering by flagship firm Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), sent shares in Adani group firms sliding.

Hindenburg, a well known U.S. short-seller, said key listed companies in the group controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani had “substantial debt” which has put the entire group on a “precarious financial footing”.

It also said that seven Adani listed companies have an 85% downside on a fundamental basis due to what it called “sky-high valuations”.

An Adani spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the report, which Hindenburg said was based on research that involved speaking with dozens of individuals, including former Adani Group executives as well as a review of documents.

Hindenburg said it held its short positions through U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.

Adani has repeatedly dismissed debt concerns. Adani Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh told media on Jan. 21 “Nobody has raised debt concerns to us. No single investor has.”

In the wake of the Hindenburg report, Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) slid 7.3% to its lowest level since early July, while Adani Enterprises dropped 3.7% to a near three-month low.

Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

Adani-owned cement firms ACC (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS) fell 6.7% and 9.7% respectively.

Hindenburg’s report said that five of seven key listed Adani companies have reported current ratios – a measure of liquid assets minus near-term liabilities – below 1. This, the short-seller said, suggested “a heightened short-term liquidity risk.”

Adani Group’s total gross debt in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, rose 40% to 2.2 trillion rupees.

Refinitiv data shows that debt at all the Adani Group’s seven key listed Adani companies exceeds equity, with debt at Adani Green Energy Ltd (ADNA.NS) exceeding equity by more than 2,000%.

CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, described the group last September as “overleveraged” and said it had concerns over its debt. While the report later corrected some calculation errors, CreditSights said it maintained its concerns over leverage.

Hindenburg is known for shorting electric truck maker Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Twitter though it later reversed its position in Twitter.

Shares in Adani Enterprises surged 125% in 2022, while other group companies, including power and gas units, rose more than 100%.

Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Chris Thomas and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Edwina Gibbs

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World

UK’s National Grid to pay people to use less power amid cold snap

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LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Britain’s National Grid (NG.L) said it would pay customers to use less power on Monday evening and that it had asked for three coal-powered generators to be warmed up in case they are needed as the country faces a snap of cold weather.

The group said that it would activate a new scheme called the Demand Flexibility Service where customers get incentives if they agree to use less power during crunch periods.

The service, which has been trialled but not run in a live situation before, would run from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, it said, adding that the move did not mean electricity supplies were at risk and advised people not to worry.

The measures were announced in order to “ensure that everyone gets the electricity they need,” Craig Dyke, Head of National Control at National Grid ESO, told BBC Radio on Monday, adding that 26 suppliers had signed up for the scheme.

[1/2] A British government advert offering people help with winter energy bills is seen on the side of a bus in Stockport, Britain, November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Below freezing temperatures have been recorded across much of the UK in recent days with the national weather service, the Met Office, last week issuing severe weather warnings for snow and ice.

National Grid’s Dyke said consumers could make small changes to make money by reducing their energy usage, such as delaying cooking or putting on the washing machine until after 6 p.m.

National Grid said in December that over a million British households had signed up to the scheme, which is one of its strategies to help prevent power cuts.

The announcement about the coal-powered generators did not mean they would definitely be used, it said in a separate statement.

Coal-powered generators were last put on stand-by in December when temperatures dropped and demand for energy rose, but they were not needed on that occasion.

Reporting by William Schomberg and Muvija M in London, and Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; editing by Tomasz Janowski, Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan

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Business

Storm cuts U.S. oil, gas, power output, sending prices higher

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Dec 23 (Reuters) – Frigid cold and blowing winds on Friday knocked out power and cut energy production across the United States, driving up heating and electricity prices as people prepared for holiday celebrations.

Winter Storm Elliott brought sub-freezing temperatures and extreme weather alerts to about two-thirds of the United States, with cold and snow in some areas to linger through the Christmas holiday.

More than 1.5 million homes and businesses lost power, oil refineries in Texas cut gasoline and diesel production on equipment failures, and heating and power prices surged on the losses. Oil and gas output from North Dakota to Texas suffered freeze-ins, cutting supplies.

Some 1.5 million barrels of daily refining capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast was shut due to the bitterly cold temperatures. The production losses are not expected to last, but they have lifted fuel prices.

Knocked out were TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), Motiva Enterprises (MOTIV.UL) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC.N) facilities outside Houston. Cold weather also disrupted Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), LyondellBasell (LYB.N) and Valero Energy (VLO.N) plants in Texas that produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana said weather disrupted its production of liquefied natural gas without providing details. Crews at the 12 million tonne-per-year facility were trying to restore output, it said.

Freeze-ins – in which ice crystals halt oil and gas production – this week trimmed production in North Dakota’s oilfields by 300,000 to 350,000 barrels per day, or a third of normal. In Texas’s Permian oilfield, the freeze led to more gas being withdrawn than was injected, said El Paso Natural Gas operator Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI.N).

U.S. benchmark oil prices on Friday jumped 2.4% to $79.56, and next-day gas in west Texas jumped 22% to around $9 per million British thermal units , the highest since the state’s 2021 deep freeze.

Power prices on Texas’s grid also spiked to $3,700 per megawatt hour, prompting generators to add more power to the grid before prices fell back as thermal and solar supplies came online.

New England’s bulk power supplier said it expected to have enough to supply demand, but elsewhere strong winds led to outages largely in the Southeast and Midwest; North Carolina counted more than 187,000 without power.

“Crews are restoring power but high winds are making repairs challenging at most of the 4,600 outage locations,” Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks wrote on Twitter.

Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply in response to the cold. U.S. heating oil futures gained 4.3% while natural gas futures rose 2.5%.

In New England, gas for Friday at the Algonquin hub soared 361% to a near 11-month high of $30 mmBtu.

About half of the power generated in New England comes from gas-fired plants, but on the coldest days, power generators shift to burn more oil. According to grid operator New England ISO, power companies’ generation mix was at 17% from oil-fired plants as of midday Friday.

Gas output dropped about 6.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) over the past four days to a preliminary nine-month low of 92.4 bcfd on Friday as wells froze in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

That is the biggest drop in output since the February 2021 freeze knocked out power for millions in Texas.

One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

Reporting by Erwin Seba and Scott DiSavino; additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Laila Kearney; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Kirsten Donovan, Aurora Ellis and Leslie Adler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Scott Disavino

Thomson Reuters

Covers the North American power and natural gas markets.

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World

Norway raises military alert in response to Ukraine war

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  • Hiked preparedness seen lasting a year, could be longer
  • Norway is now Europe’s largest gas supplier
  • Shares a border with Russia in the Arctic

OSLO, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Norway will put its military on a raised level of alert from Tuesday, moving more personnel on to operational duties and enhancing the role of a rapid mobilisation force in response to the war in Ukraine, the government said on Monday.

Norway will also seek to bring its new fleet of U.S.-made P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting maritime patrol aircraft into regular operation at a faster pace than originally planned, the chief of defence, General Eirik Kristoffersen, said.

The scale of alert on which the military operates is classified, however, and the government declined to give details of the level.

There were no concrete threats against Norway now triggering the decision, Kristoffersen told Reuters, but rather the sum of “the uncertainties” was leading authorities to raise the country’s military preparedness.

“We have seen an escalation (in the war) in Ukraine, we (Norway) are training Ukrainian forces, the Ukraine war has changed with the Russian mobilisation,” he said an interview.

“And at the same time, we have had a gas explosion in the Baltic Sea and drone activity at North Sea platforms.”

The raised level is expected to last a year, “possibly more”, Kristoffersen added.

OFFSHORE PLATFORMS

Norway first deployed its military to guard offshore platforms and onshore facilities after leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines on Sept. 26 in Swedish and Danish waters and has received support from British, Dutch, French and German armed forces.

The country’s security police last week arrested a suspected Russian spy and is also involved in protecting gas exports, vital to Europe’s energy supplies this coming winter.

NATO member Norway shares a nearly 200 km (125 mile) land border with Russia in the Arctic, as well as a vast maritime border.

The Nordic nation of 5.4 million people is also now the biggest exporter of natural gas to the European Union, accounting for around a quarter of all EU imports after a drop in Russian flows.

“The continuation of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s attempts at weakening (international) support for Ukraine mean that all countries in Europe must consider that they are exposed to hybrid threats. Including Norway.” Prime Minister Jonas Garh Stoere told Reuters.

The armed forces will spend less time training and more time on operational duties. The Home Guard, a rapid mobilisation force, will play a more active role.

The air force had called off training in the United States with its F35 fighter jets, preferring to keep them in Norway, said Kristoffersen.

Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by John Stonestreet, Alison Williams and Alex Richardson

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Gwladys Fouche

Thomson Reuters

Oversees news coverage from Norway for Reuters and loves flying to Svalbard in the Arctic, oil platforms in the North Sea, and guessing who is going to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in France and with Reuters since 2010, she has worked for The Guardian, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera English, among others, and speaks four languages.

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World

Russia says UK navy blew up Nord Stream, London denies involvement

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  • Russia says UK navy personnel blew up pipelines
  • Russia says UK navy personnel helped attack Crimea
  • Russia does not give evidence for claim
  • Britain denies Russian claims

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that British navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, a claim that London said was false and designed to distract from Russian military failures in Ukraine.

Russia did not give evidence for its claim that a leading NATO member had sabotaged critical Russian infrastructure amid the worst crisis in relations between the West and Russia since the depths of the Cold War.

The Russian ministry said that “British specialists” from the same unit directed Ukrainian drone attacks on ships of Russian Black Sea fleet in Crimea earlier on Saturday that it said were largely repelled by Russian forces, with minor damage to a Russian minesweeper.

“According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year – blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines,” the ministry said.

Britain denied the claim.

“To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale,” it said.

“This invented story, says more about arguments going on inside the Russian government than it does about the West.”

Russia has previously blamed the West for the explosions that ruptured the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

But it had not previously given specific details of who it thinks was responsible for the damage to the pipelines, previously the largest routes for Russian gas supplies to Europe.

A sharp drop in pressure on both pipelines was registered on Sept. 26 and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about sabotage to one of Russia’s most important energy corridors.

Reuters has not been able to immediately verify any of the conflicting claims about who was to blame for the damage.

PIPELINE MYSTERY

Sweden and Denmark have both concluded that four leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 were caused by explosions, but have not said who might be responsible. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called the damage an act of sabotage.

Sweden has ordered additional investigations to be carried out into the damage done to the pipelines, the prosecutor in charge of the case said in a statement on Friday.

The Kremlin has repeatedly said allegations of Russian responsibility for the damage were “stupid” and Russian officials have said Washington had a motive as it wants to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

The United States has denied involvement.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines have a joint annual capacity of 110 billion cubic metres – more than half of Russia’s normal gas exports volumes.

Sections of the 1,224-km (760-mile) long pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, lie at a depth of around 80-110 metres.

Russia said meanwhile that Ukrainian forces attacked ships from the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea, in the early hours of Saturday.

“Nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous marine drones were involved in the attack,” the defence ministry said.

“The preparation of this terrorist act and the training of servicemen of the Ukrainian 73rd Special Center for Naval Operations were carried out under the guidance of British specialists located in the town of Ochakiv.”

All the air drones were destroyed though minor damage was done to the minesweeper Ivan Golubets, the ministry said. Sevastopol is the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Reporting by Reuters
Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Frances Kerry

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Putin courts Erdogan with plan to pump more Russian gas via Turkey

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  • Putin presents Turkish leader with new “gas hub” plan
  • Moscow seeks new corridor after damage to Baltic pipelines
  • Erdogan seen as key diplomatic player in Russia-Ukraine war

ASTANA, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Moscow could export more gas via Turkey and turn it into a new supply “hub”, bidding to preserve Russia’s energy leverage over Europe.

At a meeting in Kazakhstan, Putin said Turkey offered the most reliable route to deliver gas to the European Union, and the proposed platform would allow prices to be set without politics.

Russia is looking to redirect supplies away from the Nord Stream Baltic gas pipelines, damaged in explosions last month that are still under investigation. Russia blamed the West, without providing evidence, and rejected what it called “stupid” assertions that it had sabotaged the pipelines itself.

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Putin told Erdogan the hub would be “a platform not only for supplies, but also for determining the price, because this is a very important issue”.

“Today, these prices are sky-high,” he said. “We could easily regulate [them] at a normal market level, without any political overtones.”

Erdogan did not respond in the televised portion of their meeting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA as saying both men had ordered a rapid and detailed examination of the idea.

Russia supplied about 40% of Europe’s gas before its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but had cut flows sharply even before the explosions, blaming technical problems that it said were the result of Western sanctions.

European governments rejected that explanation, accusing Moscow of using energy as a geopolitical weapon.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), in Astana, Kazakhstan October 13, 2022. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

TURKISH MEDIATION

Relations with NATO member Turkey are vital to Russia at a time when the West has hit it with waves of economic sanctions, which Ankara has refrained from joining. Turkey has, however, rejected Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian regions as a “grave violation” of international law.

Erdogan has sought to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv, and achieved a rare breakthrough in July when, together with the United Nations, he brokered an agreement allowing for the resumption of commercial Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia had blockaded.

Russia has complained, however, that its own grain and fertiliser exports, while not directly targeted by Western sanctions, continue to be hampered by problems with access to foreign ports and obtaining insurance.

Erdogan told Putin: “We are determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports … and the transfer of Russian grain and fertiliser to less developed countries via Turkey.”

Russian officials had said before the meeting that they were open to hearing proposals from Turkey about hosting peace talks involving Russia and the West.

However, Peskov was quoted by RIA as saying “the topic of a Russian-Ukrainian settlement was not discussed” by the leaders.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week signalled increasing receptiveness to talks after Moscow suffered a series of military defeats. Washington dismissed his comments as “posturing”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ruled out talking to Putin after he proclaimed the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions and after Russia rained missiles on Ukrainian cities this week in the wake of an attack on a vital bridge between Russia and Crimea, the peninsula it seized in 2014.

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Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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