Zaporozhkoks, one of Ukraine’s largest coke and chemical producers and a member of Metinvest Group, increased its investments in production facilities by a quarter year-on-year in 2024, up to UAH 321 million from UAH 257 million.
According to the company, last year’s investments were directed to a program of major overhauls of production facilities, as well as investment projects in occupational safety, information technology, and the social sphere.
Zaporozhkoks CEO Oleksandr Bekhter named ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the company’s main production assets to maintain the company’s performance in the war as one of his key priorities last year and this year.
“To this end, we continue to invest in programs to support key equipment and important repairs. In 2025, as part of the program of overhauls and investments, Zaporizhkoks will continue to overhaul coke oven battery (COB) No. 2 with the relining of three walls, implement the Working Life program and a number of projects to maintain equipment for a total of almost UAH 324 million,” the CEO said.
It is specified that one of the key equipment upgrade projects implemented last year at the enterprise was the overhaul of coke oven battery No. 2 with the relocation of four walls of coking chambers with a budget of almost UAH 72 million. This allowed us to extend the life of the unit and reduce the environmental impact. To increase the production capacity of the coke shop, the company also purchased a coke oven car for receiving and transporting coke.
As part of the overhaul program, the company also repaired coke ejector No. 3 in the coke shop, regenerator No. 11 in the desulphurization shop, pipelines of the recovery shop, and the U-30 charge feeding line of the coal preparation shop, etc.
“In 2024, Zaporozhkoks continued to implement its corporate program to improve the working environment, Working Life, and overhauled the main sanitary and amenity building and other amenities for UAH 3.8 million. During the year, the company also implemented a number of investment projects to upgrade its IT infrastructure, occupational health and safety.
“Zaporizhkoks has a full technological cycle of coke and chemical products processing.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Last year, Ukrnafta drilled 10 new wells and started drilling 12 more, the company said on Tuesday.
“Ukrnafta drilled 32 thousand meters in 2024, which is +280% compared to 2023,” the company said in a press release.
It is noted that 10 new wells are successful and have a flow rate higher than expected. Construction of 12 more wells began in the fourth quarter of 2024 and is currently at various stages of implementation.
The company plans to drill 30 new wells in 2025.
“Ukrnafta has launched an ambitious drilling and stimulation program at one of the company’s youngest fields – we are working with our own rigs in difficult mountain conditions,” said Sergiy Koretsky, CEO of the company.
According to the company, last year Ukrnafta acquired its first special permit at an auction, reached 91% reserve replacement ratio compared to 64% in 2023, explored 600 sq. km of eight fields and areas using 3D seismic, drilled the deepest well in the last 8 years with a depth of 4,520 m, performed 340 production stimulation operations and 69 hydraulic fracturing operations.
This year, the company plans to explore 800 square kilometers using 3D seismic and conduct 70 hydraulic fracturing operations.
“Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil producer and operator of a national network of filling stations. In March 2024, the company took over the management of Glusco’s assets and operates a total of 544 filling stations – 461 owned and 83 managed.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state a share of corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is currently managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Wage growth in the eurozone slowed to 4.12% in annual terms in the fourth quarter of 2024 after the highest growth since 1993 a quarter earlier, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Tuesday.
In the third quarter, the increase in wages agreed by employers and trade unions was 5.43%. The data was revised up slightly – previously it was reported an increase of 5.42%.
The new data support the ECB’s assumption that wage growth will slow down after its pace matches the dynamics of consumer price growth. Ultimately, this should lead to a weakening of inflation in the service sector, which has been hovering around 4% for several months.
Eurozone companies also expect wage growth to slow to 3.6% in 2025 and 2.7% in 2026, according to a survey conducted by the ECB in mid-February. In 2024, wages grew by 4.3%.
Since June last year, the ECB has lowered key interest rates five times, and experts expect the central bank to cut borrowing costs again at its March 6 meeting.
This year, Ukrtransgaz plans to spend UAH 1,091.468 million of its own funds on the development of underground gas storage facilities (UGS) according to the gas storage development plan for 2025-2034 approved by the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) on Tuesday.
In particular, according to the company, it is planned to allocate UAH 474.320 million for the operation of gas storage facilities, UAH 266.729 million for the modernization and purchase of vehicles, special machines and mechanisms, UAH 207.506 million for the UGS facilities, and UAH 93.679 million for the implementation and development of information technologies.
In total, the plan envisages a total investment in the development of gas storage facilities of UAH 31.040 billion over 10 years.
“The gas storage operator’s development plan is primarily aimed at maintaining reliable, trouble-free operation of the UGS facilities under martial law, as well as at responding quickly and timely to wartime challenges, and restoring the facilities,” said Roman Malyutin, CEO of Ukrtransgaz, at the regulator’s meeting.
The draft resolution of the NEURC “On Approval of the Gas Storage Development Plan for 2025-2034 of the gas storage operator JSC Ukrtransgaz” together with the materials justifying the need for its adoption will be posted on the official website of the regulator www.nerc.gov.ua for suggestions and comments.
As reported, in 2023, Ukrtransgaz earned almost UAH 7 billion in net profit, compared to UAH 3.2 billion in 2022.
Ukrtransgaz is a part of the Naftogaz group. It provides for the operation of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities, as well as modernization and construction of main gas pipelines and facilities on them. It owns 12 underground gas storage facilities located throughout Ukraine with a total capacity of 31 billion cubic meters.
Agro-Region plans to reduce classical cultivation in its Chernihiv cluster by 60% and increase minimum cultivation by 21% in the 2025 agricultural season, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
Cluster director Kateryna Moroz noted that the crop rotation for the season envisages a 70% increase in corn acreage, which is three times more than last year – up to 5.9 thousand hectares.
“Last year, we completed corn harvesting in October due to both a small sown area and favorable logistics conditions. This year, we will try to scale up our experience to larger volumes,” she said.
As for other crops, the cluster expanded the area under winter wheat by 16% to 4.1 thou hectares and winter rapeseed by 11% to 2.6 thou hectares.
The Executive Director of Chernihiv Cluster stated that the increase in winter crops helps the division to distribute the workload of the spring wedge of work, harvesting and storage.
“This year we are significantly reducing oilseeds: sunflower by 35% to 2.9 thou hectares and soybeans by 50% to 1.8 thou hectares,” the expert summarized.
Agro-Region owns a land bank of 39 thou hectares in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies organized into four crop production clusters. It has two elevators – Boryspil elevator with a capacity of 73 thousand tons and Miropil elevator with a capacity of 52 thousand tons.
Agro-Region’s annual harvest of grains and oilseeds is up to 200 thousand tons.
In April 2021, the Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by the former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavičius, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to purchase the Swedish Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages the Agro-Region group of companies in Ukraine.
The share of imported fireproofing materials decreased from 80% in 2016 to 20% in 2024, Kovlar Group CEO Kostiantyn Kalafat said in an interview withInterfax-Ukraine.
He recalled that when the company was launched in 2015, it aimed to use the experience of American builders to create an affordable domestic material for fire protection of steel structures. The company’s first product was the Ammokote GP-240 plaster mix. The company then invested in organizing its own workshop and warehouses, purchasing the necessary equipment, setting up a research laboratory, and developing and testing new fire protection materials, which currently include more than 20 items.
“The availability of high-quality Ammokote fire protection products in the country has created objective conditions for positive changes in the direction of import substitution. Since Kovlar Group entered the Ukrainian fire protection market, there has been a steady decline in the share of fire protection materials imported to Ukraine, from 80% in 2016 to 20% in 2024,” said Mr. Kalafat.
He emphasized that the company has received support and assistance from Kyiv business on its way to becoming a major player.
“We produced the first batches of fireproof plaster at Ukrvermiculite, and fireproof paints at Kompozit, a leading Ukrainian manufacturer. Our company also fruitfully cooperates with the institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on scientific research to develop new innovative fire protection products. On a voluntary basis, we help Ukrainian scientists in organizing pilot production and implementing scientific results,” said Kalafat.
Kovlar Group LLC was founded in 2015, its authorized capital is UAH 1.2 million, and its ultimate beneficiaries are Kostiantyn Kalafat (40%), Andriy Ozeychuk (35%), and Liubov Vakhitova (25%). According to the company’s annual reports, in the first three quarters of 2024, the company received UAH 73 million 726.4 thousand in revenue and a net profit of UAH 10 million 228.6 thousand.
The full text of the interview with Konstantin Kalafat will be published on the Interfax-Ukraine website.
