JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia launched a well at a depleted field in the Carpathians with a daily flow rate of 200,000 cubic meters of natural gas, CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Oleksiy Chernyshov said on Facebook.
“Recently, a well was put into operation at what was thought to be a depleted field in the Carpathians. The depleted field broke a 20-year production record in the entire region and produced more than 200,000 cubic meters of gas per day,” he wrote.
“No happy coincidence. The well is the result of coordinated work, the use of 3D seismic surveys and modern drilling technologies,” Chernyshov added.
Currently, 30-40% of sugar factories in Ukraine have switched to the use of alternative fuel sources: coal, pellets, fuel oil, peat, industry association Ukrtsukor reported.
“The cost of gas has not increased this year. In previous years, the price of blue fuel was quite high. Our Association has repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy with a request to provide benefits for gas. Due to the lack of privileges at high prices for blue fuel, the cost of sugar was growing. As a result, some sugar factories carried out certain modernization before the full-scale war and switched to other types of fuel,” the press service of the association quoted acting chairman of the board of Ukrtsukra Nazar Mykhailovin as saying.
According to his information, some plants have been working on alternative fuel, such as peat or fuel oil, since their launch.
“There are those working on pellets and in parallel burning pulp, which is the second raw material of sugar beet processing,” Mikhailovin specified.
As reported, sugar exports in 2022 reached 3% of all agricultural exports of Ukraine. In 2023-2024 marketing year it is expected to reach 650 thousand tons.
Ukraine needs to implement in the next 5-10 years a number of projects to increase the capacity and flexibility of the energy system, the volume of investments in which will amount to about $15 billion, the chairman of the board of the NEC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyy said.
“There will be countless more winters to come. And our crazy neighbor will not go anywhere from us. So we need to think not only about this winter, but also about the future. That is why we, as a system operator, have a calculated vision of what the optimal energy mix of our country will be for 5-7-10 years, what we should build to secure our facilities from massive shelling, and also to make the energy mix cheaper and cleaner. There is a certain investment menu,” Kudrytskyy said at a briefing at the Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the best defense for Ukrainian generation is dispersal of facilities, as well as their construction according to new technologies and green transition principles, without using expensive fuels like gas and coal.
According to his presentation, Ukraine will require 1.4 GW of new highly maneuverable thermal power plants in the coming years (now 0 GW), as well as 1.1 GW of biofuel-fired thermal power plants (now 0.3 GW). In addition, 3.8 GW of SES (now 6.2 GW), 4.5 GW of WPP (now 0.5 GW) and 0.8 GW of Energy Storage (now 0 GW) are to be added. At the same time, 2 GW of capacity is to be built at Dniester and Kanev HPPs (now 2 GW).
According to rough estimates, this will require $15 bln, of which the most can be invested in WPP – $5.4 bln. SES will cost $2.5 bln, TPP (both types) – $2.3 bln, SNPP – $1.2 bln, SHPP – $3.7 bln.
During the briefing, he added that additional nuclear power plant capacity would also be needed, expressing hope for the return of the Russian-occupied ZNPP.
“There are reserves to increase generation at existing NPPs, plans to build new units. They are long-term, but nuclear electricity will be in demand, especially when the withdrawal of coal-fired thermal power plants from the balance,” Kudrytskyy explained.
He pointed out that Ukrenergo made calculations with the help of specialized software to get a vision “how to build such a system, which would be ready at any time to meet the demand of consumers and be the cheapest of all such systems”.
At the same time, the head of the company emphasized that the calculation should be based on private investment.
The Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is designing a new road parallel to the existing Odesa-Reni highway, part of which runs through the territory of the Republic of Moldova (Palanca village), Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Yuriy Vaskov said.
“We are designing a road in parallel with the existing Odesa-Reni highway to organize a connection on Ukrainian territory,” Vaskov said at Infrastructure Day 2023, organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the construction of a facility is planned directly on the Odesa-Reni highway.
“In order to solve the problem point by point, we, as the Ministry of Reconstruction, have found funding and want to build a structure to avoid stopping vehicles,” Vaskov said, adding that the issue is being coordinated with the Moldovan side, in particular, with territorial communities in Moldova.
The Deputy Minister noted that there are attempts to illegally cross the border, both successful and unsuccessful.
As you know, a part of the Odesa-Reni highway on the section from Mayaky village to Udobne village (from 51 to 50 km) runs through Moldovan territory.
On June 30, 2011, an act was signed in Chisinau (Moldova) to define and fix the boundaries of the Odesa-Reni highway section near Palanca village and the land plot. Palanca village, as well as the land plot on which it runs. The road section was de jure transferred to the ownership of Ukraine on November 18, 2001, but the act of determining the boundaries on the ground was never determined.
According to the 1999 border agreement, Moldova transferred a 7.7 km section of the Odesa-Reni highway to Ukraine for use, but the territory adjacent to the road near Palanca remained in Moldovan ownership. After the change of power in Moldova in 2009, Ukraine demanded that the territory of almost 1,000 hectares be transferred to its ownership, arguing that Moldova had transferred 450 meters of the Danube coastline to Ukraine in 2002, which enabled it to build the Giurgiulesti seaport.
In January-October, Papir-Mal Cardboard and Paper Mill (Malyn, Zhytomyr region) produced products worth UAH 382.5 million, which is almost 2.2 times higher than the same figure for the first 10 months of 2022.
According to UkrPapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, the growth in production volumes was primarily driven by a more than 2.2-fold increase in the production of containerboard (including corrugated paper), up to 57.8 thousand tons.
As reported, last year the plant put into operation a second cardboard machine with a production capacity of 800 m/min (twice as much as the first one).
In addition, in January-October, the company produced 4.1 thousand tons of base paper for sanitary products, up 19%, and 22.3 million rolls of toilet paper, up 43.8%.
According to statistics, in October, Papir Mal increased its paper and cardboard production by 20.2% compared to October 2022, to 6.4 thousand tons, which is 4.8% less than in September this year.
The company specializes in the production of sanitary paper products and packaging cardboard (liner and fluting).
According to UkrPapir, the company’s production volume in 2022 decreased by 4.7% compared to 2021, to UAH 247 million.
The cargo turnover of the seaports of the Danube Region in January-October 2023 amounted to 27.6 million tons, which is 2.2 times more than in the same period of 2021 (12.6 million tons), said Yuriy Lytvyn, Head of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority”.
At the “Infrastructure Day 2023” organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday, he recalled that in 10 months of 2021, cargo turnover in the Danube ports amounted to only 4.4 million tons.
According to Lytvyn, the number of vessels handled in Danube ports in 10 months of this year increased by 54.3% compared to 10 months of last year – from 7,780 thousand to 12,005 thousand, while in 10 months of 2021 there were 2,897 thousand.
The Head of USPA clarified that out of 40 million tons of cargo for 10 months of this year and last year, 18.3 million tons were grain cargo, 3.6 million tons – ore, 3.2 million tons – vegetable oil, 2.6 million tons – oil products and 12.4 million tons – other cargo.
The Infrastructure Day also noted that the Ukrainian corridor under the control of the Ukrainian Navy to the Black Sea ports of Greater Odesa (Odesa, Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi), which was fully operational in August-September, exported 1.994 million tons in October, and 1.591 million tons since the beginning of November, compared to 0.278 million tons in September and only 0.06 million tons in August.
