The exit of trucks from Ukraine to Poland through the “Shehyni” border checkpoint is currently blocked, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in its Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“In front of the checkpoint “Medika” Polish farmers blocked the movement of trucks traveling from Ukraine to Poland. Passage of cars, buses, as well as trucks to enter Ukraine is carried out as usual,” the statement said.
The Border Guard Service promised to report on the resumption of crossing operations, but in the meantime called on truckers to choose other ways to Poland.
PJSC Ukrnafta has a strategic goal to ensure Ukraine’s energy independence in oil products by 2027 by doubling its oil and gas production, the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Energy and Housing and Utilities said Tuesday, citing the company’s director Serhiy Koretsky.
“Our company’s plan is ambitious enough, but there is a reason to announce it. Ukrnafta has every opportunity to be on the list of Ukrainian companies stabilizing the work of Ukraine’s financial and economic system,” he said during a visiting meeting of the Rada energy committee on the prospects of the Ukrainian oil refining industry in western Ukraine on June 1.
According to Koretsky, by 2027 the PJSC plans to increase oil production from almost 1.5 to 3 million tons per year. The company will achieve such indicators by drilling new wells and intensifying production, restoring production at idle wells, as well as by introducing methods to improve oil recovery at existing fields.
As Koretskyy noted, Ukrnafta started implementation of the plan to drill 9 wells in 2023 and at least 30 wells in 2024. At that, the company has been drilling 1-2 wells a year on average in recent years. “Ukrnafta also did not participate in auctions for new licenses.
“Analysis of the external environment shows that in the medium term, the company’s products will remain in demand and Ukrnafta will have the potential to develop on key markets. We believe that very soon the company will be talked about as the best employer, universal supplier of oil products and highly profitable national enterprise,” summarized the head of PJSC.
“In 2023, Ukrnafta plans to increase its oil production by 5.8% (by 0.08 million tons) to 1.45 million tons compared to the previous year, and gas production by 0.3% (by 0.003 million cubic meters) to 1.04 billion cubic meters.
On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander in Chief decided to confiscate Ukrnafta shares (except for the controlling interest in Naftohaz Ukrainy) as state property during the martial law. Prior to the seizure, the structures of Ihor Kolomoyskyy and Hennadiy Boholyubov owned about 42% of Ukrnafta shares.
As of the end of March 2023, Ukrnafta had 89 fields with 3.7 thousand oil and gas wells. The company operates 451 gas stations.
Oil prices continue to fall on Wednesday morning amid expectations of record production in the U.S. this and next year.
The cost of August futures for Brent on London’s ICE Futures Exchange is $75.8 a barrel by 8:15 a.m., down $0.49 (0.64%) from the previous session’s closing price. The contract fell $0.42 (0.6%) to $76.29 a barrel on Tuesday.
July futures on WTI grew by $0.44 (0.61%) to $71.3 per barrel at NYMEX by that time. At the end of previous session the contracts fell by $0.41 (0.6%) to $71.74 per barrel.
The U.S. Energy Department raised expectations for domestic oil production (excluding other liquid hydrocarbons) in 2023 from 12.53 million bpd to 12.61 million bpd, the agency said in a monthly forecast.
The forecast is 720,000 bpd higher than the 2022 result of 11.89 million bpd. It is also 310,000 bpd better than the last average annual record for U.S. crude oil production set in 2019 at 12.3 million bpd.
The agency also raised its 2024 production forecast by 80,000 bpd to 12.77 million bpd.
In addition, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its weekly report on oil, gasoline and distillate inventories on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Moscow time. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), oil inventories for the week ended June 2 decreased by about 1.7 million barrels. The consensus forecast by Trading Economics suggests an increase of 1.5 million barrels.
The Swiss franc has gained about 4 percent against the U.S. dollar since late February, the best performance among G10 currencies.
Traders in recent weeks have started giving optimistic forecasts about the franc, which has not been seen since September 2021, Bloomberg noted. These changes are due to a projected divergence in monetary policy between the Swiss National Bank and central banks in Europe and China.
The sharp slowdown in economic growth in the euro zone and China strengthens analysts’ opinions that central banks will move to soften monetary policy. Experts also expect similar moves from the Federal Reserve in the not-too-distant future, although mixed economic data do not rule out the possibility of another prime rate hike before then.
“We expect the Swiss franc to rise in line with a multi-year trend,” said Thomas Fluri, head of currency research at UBS Wealth Management. He expects the currency to strengthen in the medium to long term because of the low price pressure in Switzerland and the fact that the country’s central bank is “convinced of the need to fight even this small inflation.” Moreover, “there are also many opportunities to repatriate money that was left outside the country during the period of negative interest rates,” the expert believes.
The franc also remains a safe haven for nervous investors amid worsening geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, the agency noted.
The Swiss national currency, like gold, shows good results in the periods when central banks’ monetary policy is stimulating. The franc appreciated 10% during the 2001-2002 cycle of rate cuts by the Fed and the ECB. At the beginning of the 2007-2008 financial crisis it gained 13%. When the Fed lowered rates in 2019-2020, the franc appreciated about 7%.
Long-term estimates of the franc “don’t look overstated at all” after accounting for differences in inflation with other countries, JPMorgan Chase analysts said. They predict a gradual strengthening of its exchange rate by March 2024 by more than 5% against the dollar and more than 4% against the euro.
After fears regarding the US debt ceiling are removed, the franc may weaken against the US national currency by 1-2%, experts say. However, they think this is only temporary negative factor that “is not a problem for our “bullish” strategic view of the franc.
The dollar is trading at 0.9067 francs and the euro at 0.9697 francs on Tuesday.
PrivatBank, the largest on the market, confirmed disruptions and delays in the work of the bank’s services, in particular Privat24, ATM networks and card payments through merchant terminals.
“All IT specialists involved are working to restore stable work as soon as possible,” the financial institution said in a telegram message.
The bank thanked customers for their understanding and patience.
As stated by the National Bank in a report for 2022, the leaders in Ukraine on the issue of payment cards are state-owned PrivatBank and Oschadbank – respectively 43.8% and 15.4%, as well as Universal Bank (mono) – 13.2%.
The largest number of payment terminals on the market also belongs to PrivatBank – 60.4%, Oschadbank – 19.6% and Raiffeisen Bank – 7.6%.
Animal protection organizations of Ukraine urge not to leave animals behind during evacuation because of the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP and advise where to go and how to help.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam caused flooding of up to 80 settlements in the South of Ukraine. People are urgently evacuated. Animal protection organizations sound the alarm because, during the evacuation, people can forget or leave their pets behind. In addition, many homeless animals and foster shelters remain in the risk zone.
The Save Pets of Ukraine social initiative from Kormotech has already provided 1,500 kg of cat and dog food, treats, 37 cages, seven carriers, collars, leashes, and 125 evacuation backpacks for these animals. Public organizations and volunteers are already going to the Kherson region to save four-legged animals.
Where to turn for help
The Save Pets of Ukraine initiative has collected the contacts of organizations that accept applications from residents of the Kherson Region regarding the evacuation of animals:
Charitable Fund “Ukraine. United in diversity”
NGO “Petro and Mazepa” +380932230214
BO “12 guards” +380638631512
The All-Ukrainian Center for Assistance to Homeless Animals Patron Pets Center in Kyiv is ready to accept animals evacuated from the Kherson region.
How to help
Those wishing to support animals affected by flooding in the Kherson region can join the initiatives of animal protection organizations:
The Save Pets of Ukraine initiative accepts applications from organizations traveling to the Kherson region for evacuation to provide them with everything they need and also collects inquiries about providing shelter to animals evacuated from the Kherson region in shelters of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Odesa regions. The organization publishes current news on its social networks and calls on everyone who cares to help save animals from flooded areas:
https://www.facebook.com/savepetsofua
