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World

Malaysia landslide kills 12 at campsite, more than 20 missing

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  • Landslide ripped through farm campsite around 3 am
  • Eight injured, at least 50 found safe
  • Almost 400 people involved in search and rescue – police

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Reuters) – A landslide killed at least 12 people while they slept at a campsite in Malaysia early on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing.

The landslide in Selangor state, on the outskirts of capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred about 3 a.m. (1900 GMT), tearing down a hillside into an organic farm with camping facilities, the state fire and rescue department said in a statement.

Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said she was camping with 40 others when the landslide struck. She said one of her brothers died, while another is in the hospital.

“I heard a loud sound like thunder, but it was the rocks falling,” she told Malay-language daily Berita Haria. “We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us. Luckily, I was able to leave the tent and go to someplace safer. My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves.”

More than 90 people were caught in the landslide and 59 have been found safe, with 22 still missing, according to the fire and rescue department.

In addition to the 12 dead, eight were hospitalised, it said.

One of those taken to the hospital was pregnant, while others had injuries ranging from minor cuts to a suspected spinal injury, health minister Zaliha Mustafa told a news conference.

District police chief Suffian Abdullah said the dead were all Malaysians and included a child about 5 years old.

Almost 400 people from several agencies had been deployed, with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing, he told a news conference.

The landslide came down from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) above the campsite, and covered an area of about one acre (0.4 hectare), according to the fire and rescue department’s state director.

Footage from local television showed the aftermath of a large landslide through a steep, forested area beside a road, while other images on social media showed rescue workers clambering over thick mud, large trees and other debris.

Reuters Graphics

“I pray that the missing victims can be found safely soon,” Malaysia’s minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, tweeted on Friday morning, one of several ministers who were heading to the scene. “The rescue team has been working since early. I’m going down there today.”

The disaster struck about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, an area known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty.

News agency Bernama tweeted that all campsites and water recreation areas around Batang Kali had been ordered to close immediately until further notice, citing the minister of home affairs.

Pictures posted on the Father’s Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up.

Selangor is the country’s most affluent state and has suffered landslides before, often attributed to forest and land clearance.

The region is in its rainy season but no heavy rain or earthquakes were recorded overnight.

A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states across the country.

Reporting by Rozanna Latiff, Angie Teo, Yantoultra Ngui and Hasnoor Hussein; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle

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World

Children dying in Somalia as food catastrophe worsens

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  • Famine averted for now but crisis worsening – IPC
  • ‘Children are dying now’ – UNICEF
  • U.N. funding appeal facing $1 bln shortfall

MOGADISHU, Dec 13 (Reuters) – More than 200,000 Somalis are suffering catastrophic food shortages and many are dying of hunger, with that number set to rise to over 700,000 next year, according to an analysis by an alliance of U.N. agencies and aid groups.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which sets the global standard for determining the severity of food crises, said its most acute level, “IPC Phase 5 Famine”, had been temporarily averted but things were getting worse.

“They have kept famine outside of the door but nobody knows for how much longer,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson of the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA).

“That people are dying from hunger, there’s no doubt about it, but I cannot put a number on it,” he told a news briefing in Geneva after the latest IPC analysis on Somalia came out.

A two-year drought has decimated crops and livestock across Horn of Africa nations, while the price of food imports has soared because of the war in Ukraine.

In Somalia, where 3 million people have been driven from their homes by conflict or drought, the crisis is compounded by a long-running Islamist insurgency that has hampered humanitarian access to some areas.

The IPC had previously warned that areas of Somalia were at risk of reaching famine levels, but the response by humanitarian organisations and local communities had staved that off.

“The underlying crisis however has not improved and even more appalling outcomes are only temporarily averted. Prolonged extreme conditions have resulted in massive population displacement and excess cumulative deaths,” it said.

Somalia’s last famine, in 2011, killed a quarter of a million people, half of them before famine was officially declared.

Fearful of a similar or even worse outcome this time, humanitarian chiefs were quick to say the situation was already catastrophic for many Somalis.

‘STOP WAITING’

“I have sat with women and children who have shown me mounds next to their tent in a displaced camp where they buried their two- and three-year-olds,” said James Elder, spokesperson of the U.N. children’s charity UNICEF, at the Geneva briefing.

“Whilst a famine declaration remains important because the world should be past this, we also do know that children are dying now.”

The IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale has a complex set of technical criteria by which the severity of crises are measured. Its Phase 5 has two levels, Catastrophe and Famine.

The Somalia analysis found that 214,000 people were classified in Catastrophe and that number was expected to rise to 727,000 from April, 2023 as humanitarian funding dropped off.

Catastrophe is summarised on the IPC website as a situation where starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.

It said famine was projected from April onwards among agropastoral populations in the districts of Baidoa and Burhakaba, in central Somalia, and among displaced populations in Baidoa town and the capital Mogadishu.

The IPC data showed 5.6 million Somalis were classified in Crisis or worse (Phase 3 or above) and that number would rise from April to 8.3 million — about half the country’s population.

The OCHA is appealing for $2.3 billion to respond to the crisis in Somalia, of which it has so far received $1.3 billion, or 55.2%.

David Miliband, head of aid group the International Rescue Committee, said the underfunding of the appeal showed the world was not treating this as an urgent moment.

“The time for action is now in Somalia,” he told Reuters in an interview, adding that what happened in 2011 should serve as a warning. “Stop waiting for the famine declaration,” he said.

Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Bhargav Acharya and Alexander Winning in Johannesburg and Sofia Christensen in Dakar and Emma Farge in Geneva; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by James Macharia Chege and Ed Osmond

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World

Snow to blanket Kyiv from Sunday as power still in short supply

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KYIV, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Heavy snowfall was expected in Kyiv starting on Sunday, with temperatures dropping below freezing day and night, while millions of people who still live in and around the Ukrainian capital remain with little electricity and heat.

Grid operator Ukrenergo said on Saturday that electricity producers were able to cover only three-quarters of consumption needs, necessitating restrictions and blackouts across the country.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that there are restrictions on the use of electricity in 14 out of Ukraine’s 27 regions and in Kyiv, for “more than 100,000” customers in each of the regions.

“If consumption increases in the evening, the number of outages may increase,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

“This once again shows how important it is now to save power and consume it rationally.”

Sergey Kovalenko, chief operating officer of YASNO, which provides energy to Kyiv, said the situation in the city has improved but still remained “quite difficult.” He indicated that residents should have at least four hours of power per day.

“If you haven’t had at least four hours of electricity in the past day, write to DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks, colleagues will help you figure out what the problem is,” Kovalenko wrote on his Facebook page.

YASNO is the retail branch of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider.

Russia’s latest bombardment on Wednesday inflicted the worst damage so far in the conflict, leaving millions of people in Ukraine with no light, water or heat. read more

Russia says it does not target the civilian population, while the Kremlin said that Moscow’s strikes on energy infrastructure are a consequence of Kyiv being unwilling to negotiate. read more

In a rare public spat involving Ukrainian leaders, Zelenskiy on Friday criticised the mayor of Kyiv for doing what he said was a poor job setting up emergency shelters to help those without power and heat after Russian attacks. read more

Ukrenergo said that blackouts will continue and urged limited use of power.

“We would like to remind you that now every Ukrainian whose home has had electricity restored can help restore it to others faster, simply by consuming electricity sparingly,” it said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Snow is expected to continue in Kyiv, a city that had 2.8 million residents before the war, until midweek while temperatures are forecast to stay below freezing.

Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Kim Coghill

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World

Ukraine promises shelters for its people as winter sets in

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  • ‘Invincibility centres’ to provide heat, water, internet
  • Power outages widespread as Russia targets electricity grid
  • G7 to soon announce price cap on Russian oil – U.S. official

KYIV, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Ukraine promised shelters with heat and water and encouraged its people to save energy as a harsh winter loomed amid relentless Russian strikes that have left its power structure in tatters.

Special “invincibility centres” will be set up around Ukraine to provide electricity, heat, water, internet, mobile phone connections and a pharmacy, free of charge and around the clock, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday.

Russian attacks have knocked out power for long periods for up to 10 million consumers at a time. Ukraine’s national power grid operator said on Tuesday the damage had been colossal.

“If massive Russian strikes happen again and it’s clear power will not be restored for hours, the ‘invincibility centres’ will go into action with all key services,” Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said this week that some 8,500 power generator sets are being imported to Ukraine daily.

The first snow of the winter has fallen in much of the country over the past week.

Authorities have warned of power cuts that could affect millions of people to the end of March – the latest impact from Russia’s nine-month invasion that has already killed tens of thousands, uprooted millions and pummelled the global economy.

Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities follow a series of battlefield setbacks that have included a retreat of its forces from the southern city of Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River that bisects the country.

A week after being retaken by Ukrainian forces, residents in Kherson were tearing down Russian propaganda billboards and replacing them with pro-Ukrainian signs.

“The moment our soldiers entered, these posters were printed and handed over to us. We found workers to install the posters, and we clean up the advertisement off as quickly as possible,” said Antonina Dobrozhenska, who works at the government’s communications department.

Russian missiles hit a maternity hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region killing a baby, the regional governor said on the Telegram messaging service.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report. Russia denies targeting civilians.

[1/8] People wait in line to get food, water and aid after Russia’s military retreat from Kherson, outside the Church of Christ the Savior in Kherson, Ukraine November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Battles raged in the east, where Russia is pressing an offensive along a stretch of front line west of the city of Donetsk, which has been held by its proxies since 2014. The Donetsk region was the scene of fierce attacks and constant shelling over the past 24 hours, Zelenskiy said.

In Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian air defences were activated and two drone attacks were repelled on Tuesday, including one targeting a power station near Sevastopol, the regional governor said. Sevastopol is the home port of Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

Russian-installed Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev called for calm and said no damage had been caused.

‘DARKEST DAYS’

The World Health Organization warned this week that hundreds of Ukrainian hospitals and healthcare facilities lacked fuel, water and electricity.

“Ukraine’s health system is facing its darkest days in the war so far. Having endured more than 700 attacks, it is now also a victim of the energy crisis,” Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said in a statement after visiting Ukraine.

Russia’s strikes on energy infrastructure are a consequence of Kyiv being unwilling to negotiate, Russia’s state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying last week.

Russia says it is carrying out a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities.

Ukraine and the West describe Russia’s actions as an unprovoked, imperialist land grab in the neighbouring state it once dominated within the former Soviet Union.

Western responses have included financial and military aid for Kyiv – it received 2.5 billion euros ($2.57 billion) from the EU on Tuesday and is expecting $4.5 billion in U.S. aid in coming weeks – and waves of sanctions on Russia.

The BBC reported Britain is sending three helicopters to Ukraine, the first piloted aircraft it is sending since the war began. Ukraine will deploy them with Ukrainian crews trained in Britain, it said.

The West has also sought to cap Russian energy export prices, with the aim of reducing the petroleum revenues that fund Moscow’s war machine while maintaining flows of oil to global markets to prevent price spikes.

The Group of Seven nations should soon announce the price cap and will probably adjust the level a few times a year, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday.

Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Oleksandr Kozhukhar and Maria Starkova in Kyiv, Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg, Lidia Kelley in Sydney; Writing by Rosalba O’Brien and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Robert Birsel

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World

Children at school among 162 dead in Indonesia quake

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  • Death toll from 5.6-magnitude earthquake expect to rise
  • Dozens remain trapped in the rubble – officials
  • President

CIANJUR, Indonesia, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Children killed when their schools collapsed accounted for many of the 162 dead in an earthquake that devastated a town on Indonesia’s main island of Java, an official said on Tuesday, as rescuers raced to reach people trapped in rubble.

Hundreds of people were injured in the Monday quake and officials warned the death toll was likely to rise.

The shallow 5.6-magnitude quake struck in mountains in Indonesia’s most populous province of West Java, causing significant damage to the town of Cianjur and burying at least one village under a landslide.

Landslides and rough terrain were hampering rescue efforts, said Henri Alfiandi, head of National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas).

“The challenge is the affected area is spread out … On top of that, the roads in these villages are damaged,” Alfiandi told a news conference, adding that more than 13,000 people had been evacuated.

“Most of the casualties are children, because at 1 p.m. they were still at school,” he said, referring to the time the quake hit.

Many of the fatalities resulted from people trapped under collapsed buildings, officials said.

President Joko Widodo flew in to Cianjur on Tuesday to encourage rescuers.

“My instruction is to prioritise evacuating victims that are still trapped under rubble,” said the president, who is known as Jokowi.

He offered his condolences to the victims and pledged emergency government support. Reconstruction should include earthquake-prone housing to protect against future disasters, he said.

Survivors gathered overnight in a Cianjur hospital parking lot. Some of the injured were treated in tents, others were hooked up to intravenous drips on the pavement as medical workers stitched up patients under torch light.

“Everything collapsed beneath me and I was crushed beneath this child,” Cucu, a 48-year-old resident, told Reuters.

“Two of my kids survived, I dug them up … Two others I brought here, and one is still missing,” she said through tears.

[1/10] Indonesia rescue members evacuate people from the site of a landslide caused by the earthquake in Cugenang, Cianjur, West Java province, Indonesia, November 22, 2022. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana

Footage from Kompas TV showed people holding cardboard signs asking for food and shelter, with emergency supplies seemingly yet to reach them.

Hundreds of police officers were deployed to help the rescue effort, Dedi Prasetyo, national police spokesperson told the Antara state news agency.

“Today’s main task order for personnel is to focus on evacuating victims,” he said.

‘SWEPT AWAY’

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said at least 162 people were killed, many of them children, while the toll from the national disaster agency (BNPB) stood at 103, with 31 missing.

Authorities were operating “under the assumption that the number of injured and death will rise”, the governor said, with at least one village buried by landslides triggered by the quake.

Cianjur police chief told Metro TV that 20 people had been evacuated from the district of Cugenang, most of whom had died, with residents reporting missing family members.

The area was hit by a landslide triggered by the quake that had blocked access to the area.

“At least six of my relatives are still unaccounted for, three adults and three children,” said Zainuddin, a resident of Cugenang.

“If it was just an earthquake only the houses would collapse, but this is worse because of the landslide. In this residential area there were eight houses, all of the which were buried and swept away.”

Rescue efforts were complicated by electricity outages in some areas, and more than 100 aftershocks.

Straddling the so-called “Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the earth’s crust meet, Indonesia has a history of devastating earthquakes.

In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people.

Reporting by Tommy Adriansyah and Ajeng Dinar Ulfina in Cianjur; and Gayatri Suroyo, Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy and Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies and Stephen Coates

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World

Indonesia quake kills scores, reduces homes to rubble, injuring hundreds

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CIANJUR, Indonesia, Nov 21 (Reuters) – A 5.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 60 people and injured hundreds in Indonesia’s West Java province on Monday, with rescuers trying to reach survivors trapped under the rubble amid a series of aftershocks.

The epicentre was near the town of Cianjur in West Java, about 75 km (45 miles) southeast of the capital, Jakarta, where some buildings shook and some offices were evacuated.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said 62 people had been killed. At least 25 people were trapped under collapsed buildings, it said.

BNPB spokesperson Abdul Muhari said the search would continue through the night.

“So many buildings crumbled and shattered,” West Java governor Ridwan Kamil told reporters.

“There are residents trapped in isolated places … so we are under the assumption that the number of injured and deaths will rise with time.”

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The BNPB said more than 2,200 houses had been damaged and more than 5,300 people had been displaced.

[1/5] Medical workers treat the victims outside the district hospital after earthquake hit in Cianjur, West Java province, Indonesia, November 21, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Raisan Al Farisi via REUTERS

A 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s Java island on Monday

Electricity was down and disrupting communications efforts, Herman Suherman, head of Cianjur’s government, said, adding that a landslide was blocking evacuations in one area.

Hundreds of victims were being treated in a hospital parking lot, some under an emergency tent. Elsewhere in Cianjur, residents huddled together on mats in open fields or in tents while buildings around them had been reduced almost entirely to rubble.

Officials were still working to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km, according to the weather and geophysics agency (BMKG).

Vani, who was being treated at Cianjur main hospital, told MetroTV that the walls of her house collapsed during an aftershock.

“The walls and wardrobe just fell… Everything was flattened, I don’t even know the whereabouts of my mother and father,” she said.

Within two hours, 25 aftershocks had been recorded, BMKG said, adding there were concerns about more landslides in the event of heavy rain.

In Jakarta, some people evacuated offices in the central business district, while others reported buildings shaking and furniture moving, Reuters witnesses said.

In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia.

Reporting by Tommy Ardiansyah, Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana and Johan Purnomo in Cianjur, Ananda Teresia, Gayatri Suroyo, Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta
Writing by Ed Davies and Kate Lamb; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor, Kim Coghill, Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie

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World

Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 19 dead, prime minister says

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  • Plane was trying to land at nearby airport – airline
  • Rescuers in boats rush out to save trapped passengers
  • Crash happened amid storms, heavy rain – broadcaster

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 6 (Reuters) – At least 19 people died when a passenger plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Sunday morning while trying to land at a nearby airport, the prime minister said.

Flight PW494, operated by Precision Air, hit the water during storms and heavy rain, the state Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) reported.

Rescuers in boats rushed to the wreckage, which was almost fully submerged, to pull out trapped passengers, local authorities said.

“All Tanzanians join you in mourning these 19 people … who have lost their lives,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told reporters in the lakeside city of Bukoba, close to the scene of the crash.

Investigators were still looking into what happened, he added.

The plane left the commercial capital Dar es Salaam and “crash-landed” at 8:53 a.m. (0553 GMT) as it was approaching Bukoba airport, Precision Air – Tanzania’s largest privately owned airline – said in a statement.

The plane was carrying 39 passengers, including an infant, as well as four crew members, the airline added. It said 26 of the 43 people on board had been rescued.

Airline officials did not answer calls seeking further details, and the discrepancy in the figures could not immediately be reconciled.

A witness told TBC he saw the plane flying unsteadily as it approached the airport in poor visibility conditions, saying it took a turn for the airport but missed and went into the lake.

Video and pictures on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged, with only its green and brown-coloured tail visible above the waterline of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake.

Footage from the broadcaster and onlookers showed scores of residents standing along the shoreline and others wading into the shallow waters to try to help pull the aircraft closer to the shore with ropes.

Rescue workers were initially in touch with the pilots in the cockpit, Albert Chalamila, chief administrator of Tanzania’s Kagera region, told reporters. The prime minister later said the pilots may have died.

Precision Air identified the aircraft as an ATR42-500. The Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First introduced almost 40 years ago, the ATR42 is the smaller of two series of short-haul turboprops made by ATR, a joint-venture of Airbus (AIR.PA) and Leonardo (LDOF.MI). The last fatal accident was in 2017, according to aviation-safety.net, a safety database.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan called for calm as the rescue operation continued.

“I have received with sadness the news of the accident involving Precision Air’s plane,” she tweeted. “Let’s be calm at this moment when rescuers are continuing with the rescue mission while praying to God to help us.”

Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Tim Hepher in Paris
Writing by Elias Biryabarema
Editing by Alexandra Zavis, William Maclean, Helen Popper and Andrew Heavens

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World

Philippine capital braces for storm Nalgae, death toll cut to 45

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  • Most casualties in landslide-hit Maguindanao province
  • Death toll reduced to 45 from 72 after checks
  • Philippines has annual average of 20 tropical storms

MANILA, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Manila and nearby towns braced on Saturday for Tropical Storm Nalgae, which has killed 45 people, mostly because of landslides in southern provinces of the Philippines.

The Southeast Asian nation’s disaster agency reduced its death toll to 45 from 72 after checking reports from ground staff, including rescue workers searching for 18 missing persons.

Residents in the capital’s coastal area were evacuated while classes across all levels were suspended, according to the mayor’s office.

Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan ordered the closure of the city’s cemeteries, where millions had been expected to visit during the extended All Saints’ Day weekend, on Saturday.

The tropical storm, which has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometres (60 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 130 kph (80 mph), has made multiple landfall in the eastern Philippines on Saturday.

The state weather agency, in its latest bulletin, warned of widespread flooding and landslides because of heavy and at times torrential rains over the capital region and nearby provinces as Nalgae cuts through the main Luzon island and heads to the South China Sea.

Airlines have cancelled 116 domestic and international flights to and from the Philippines’ main gateway. Nearly 7,500 passengers, drivers, and cargo helpers and 107 vessels were stranded in ports, the coast guard said.

Government agencies were giving aid and food packs to affected families, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Twitter.

Coast guard personnel guided residents through chest-deep floods, with rescuers using a monobloc plastic chair and an old refrigerator to carry children and elderly people in the central Leyte province, according to photos shared by the agency.

The bulk of the deaths, at 40, have been reported in the southern Maguindanao province.

“We are not discounting the possibility of more casualties,” Cyrus Torrena, provincial administrator of Maguindanao, told DZMM radio station. “But we pray it does not go up significantly.”

The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms annually. In December, category 5 typhoon Rai ravaged central provinces, leaving 407 dead and more than 1,100 injured.

Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Chris Reese and William Mallard

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Business

World is in its ‘first truly global energy crisis’ – IEA’s Birol

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SINGAPORE, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Tightening markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide and major oil producers cutting supply have put the world in the middle of “the first truly global energy crisis”, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

Rising imports of LNG to Europe amid the Ukraine crisis and a potential rebound in Chinese appetite for the fuel will tighten the market as only 20 billion cubic meters of new LNG capacity will come to market next year, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said during the Singapore International Energy Week.

At the same time the recent decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, to cut 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of output is a “risky” decision as the IEA sees global oil demand growth of close to 2 million bpd this year, Birol said.

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“(It is) especially risky as several economies around the world are on the brink of a recession, if that we are talking about the global recession…I found this decision really unfortunate,” he said.

Soaring global prices across a number of energy sources, including oil, natural gas and coal, are hammering consumers at the same time they are already dealing with rising food and services inflation. The high prices and possibility of rationing are potentially hazardous to European consumers as they prepare to enter the Northern Hemisphere winter.

Europe may make it through this winter, though somewhat battered, if the weather remains mild, Birol said.

“Unless we will have an extremely cold and long winter, unless there will be any surprises in terms of what we have seen, for example Nordstream pipeline explosion, Europe should go through this winter with some economic and social bruises,” he added.

For oil, consumption is expected to grow by 1.7 million bpd in 2023 so the world will still need Russian oil to meet demand, Birol said.

G7 nations have proposed a mechanism that would allow emerging nations to buy Russian oil but at lower prices to cap Moscow’s revenues in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Birol said the scheme still has many details to iron out and will require the buy-in of major oil importing nations.

A U.S. Treasury official told Reuters last week that it is not unreasonable to believe that up to 80% to 90% of Russian oil will continue to flow outside the price cap mechanism if Moscow seeks to flout it.

“I think this is good because the world still needs Russian oil to flow into the market for now. An 80%-90% is good and encouraging level in order to meet the demand,” Birol said.

While there is still a huge volume of strategic oil reserves that can be tapped during a supply disruption, another release is not currently on the agenda, he added.

ENERGY SECURITY DRIVES RENEWABLES GROWTH

The energy crisis could be a turning point for accelerating clean sources and for forming a sustainable and secured energy system, Birol said.

“Energy security is the number one driver (of the energy transition),” said Birol, as countries see energy technologies and renewables as a solution.

The IEA has revised up the forecast of renewable power capacity growth in 2022 to a 20% year-on-year increase from 8% previously, with close to 400 gigawatts of renewable capacity being added this year.

Many countries in Europe and elsewhere are accelerating the installation of renewable capacity by cutting the permitting and licensing processes to replace the Russian gas, Birol said.

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Reporting by Florence Tan, Muyu Xu and Emily Chow; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christian Schmollinger

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World

Ukrainians try to conserve electricity, endure water outages after Russian strikes

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  • Russian strikes destroy Ukrainian power and water facilities
  • Ukraine says it wants to cut power use by a fifth
  • Ukrainians conserve power, some go with out running water
  • Battle for southern city of Kherson looms

KYIV, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Ukrainians conserved electricity and some went without running water to try to ease pressure on the grid and give engineers a chance to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Russian strikes as Kyiv’s forces advanced towards the city of Kherson.

Although Ukraine is successfully prosecuting counter-offensives against Russian forces in the east and the south, it is struggling to protect power generating facilities and other utilities from Russian air and drone strikes designed to disrupt lives and demoralise people as winter approaches.

The Ukrainian government on Thursday placed restrictions on electricity usage nationwide for the first time since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion following a barrage of attacks which President Volodymr Zelenskiy said had struck a third of all power plants.

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Under the new energy-saving regime, power supply across Ukraine was on Thursday restricted between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Ukraine’s energy minister said the government was seeking a 20% reduction in energy use and that Ukrainians were responding to the appeal to limit usage.

“We see a drop in consumption,” he said. “We see a voluntary decrease. But when it is not enough, we are forced to bring in forced shutdowns,” Minister Herman Halushchenko told Ukrainian TV.

Russia had carried out more than 300 air strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities since Oct. 10, he added.

Zelenskiy told the nation in a Wednesday night video address: “There is new damage to critical infrastructure. Three energy facilities were destroyed by the enemy today.

“We assume that Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities until, with the help of partners, we are able to shoot down 100% of enemy missiles and drones.”

One of the facilities hit on Wednesday was a coal-fired thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine.

“Unfortunately there is destruction, and it is quite serious,” Svitlana Onyshchuk, Ivano-Frankivsk’s governor, said on Ukrainian television.

“Please limit your electricity consumption,” Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in the same address to the nation.

The Ukrainian leader was due to address an EU summit later on Thursday. Leaders of the 27 member states will discuss options for more support to Ukraine, including energy equipment, helping restore power supply and long-term financing to rebuild.

BATTLE FOR KHERSON

Cities such as the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv in the northeast announced curbs on the use of electric-powered public transport such as trolleybuses and reduced the frequency of trains on the metro.

DTEK, a major electricity supplier in Kyiv, told consumers it would do its best to make sure outages did not last longer than four hours.

The whole northeast region of Sumy, which borders Russia, said it would go the entire day – from 0700 to 2300 local time – without water, electric transport or street lighting.

“We need time to restore power plants, we need respite from our consumers,” Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, head of grid operator Ukrenergo, told Ukrainian TV.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday it was continuing to target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, a strategy it has stepped up since the appointment earlier this month of Sergei Surovikin – nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media because of his alleged toughness – as overall commander of what Moscow called its “special military operation”.

Reuters witnesses said five drones hit the southern port city of Mykolaiv on Thursday, but it was unclear where they had exploded.

The Ukrainian military continued to try to press its advance towards the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russian forces have captured since their invasion eight months ago.

The Russian-appointed administration on Wednesday told civilians to leave the city – control of which allows Russia to control the only land route to the Crimea peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, and the mouth of the Dnipro river.

On Wednesday, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russia-backed administration in Kherson, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine had launched an offensive towards Novaya Kamianka and Berislav in the Kherson region.

While Ukraine remained tight-lipped about its operations, its military said in an early Thursday update on the Kherson region said 43 Russian servicemen had been killed and six tanks and other equipment destroyed.

The Russian defence ministry on Thursday described a battle in the area which it said its forces had won in the end.

“In the area of the settlement of Sukhanovo, Kherson region, the enemy managed to drive a wedge into Russian units’ defensive lines,” the ministry said.

“Due to the introduction of a tank reserve by the Russian command into battle, as well as ambush actions, the enemy was significantly defeated, and Ukrainian units fled. The position on the front edge of the defensive line has been completely restored.”

Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.

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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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