Oil prices are rising in trading on Wednesday amid continuing hopes for a rebound in demand from China after the removal of anti-coveting restrictions.
The cost of March futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange is $86.56 per barrel by 7:13 a.m. (EET), which is $0.64 (0.74%) above the previous session’s closing price. At the close of trading on Tuesday those contracts grew by $1.46 (1.73%) to $85.92 per barrel.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $80.83 per barrel by that time, which is $0.65 (0.81%) above the final value of the previous session. At the end of trading on Tuesday the contract grew by $0.32 (0.4%) up to $80.18 per barrel.
China’s Vice Premier Liu He announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos that China was open for global cooperation after three years of isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, the peak of the coronavirus infection in the country and the economic recovery came earlier than the government expected.
China’s economy reportedly expanded by 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to data from the State Statistics Office (SSO). Thus, the growth rate slowed significantly from 3.9% in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, the figure exceeded analysts’ expectations, who on average predicted a 1.8% increase in Chinese GDP in October-December, Trading Economics reported.
OPEC improved its estimate of global oil demand in the first quarter of 2023 by 160,000 bpd from its previous forecast to 101.04 million bpd, the cartel’s monthly report showed.
“Slight upward adjustments were made due to an expected improvement in China’s economic performance amid its re-emerging from COVID-19 restrictions, while other regions are expected to see slight declines due to economic problems that are likely to affect oil demand,” the report said.
Meanwhile, forecasts for 2022 and 2023 remained unchanged at 99.55 million bpd and 101.77 million bpd, respectively.
Traders are now waiting for the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) monthly survey, which will be released Wednesday.
TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) paid UAH 91.46 mln of indemnities within the framework of its obligations under the concluded insurance contracts in the last month of 2022, which is 4.2% less than during the same month last year.
In particular, the company has paid UAH 27,71 mln on CASCO insurance contracts, which makes 30,3% of total payments of the insurer for a month and exceeds the corresponding figure for December 2021 by 5,5%.
UAH 30,17 mln or 32,99% of the total payments on policies of MTPL insurance, UAH 18,51 mln (+13,2%) or 20,23% on contracts of voluntary health insurance, UAH 10,79 mln or 11,8% of the total payments for a month.
TAS IG paid UAH 1.29 mln. according to property insurance contracts in December 2022, and UAH 2.99 mln. according to other insurance contracts, which is 8.4% more than in December 2021.
TAS IG was registered in 1998. It is a universal company offering customers more than 80 types of insurance products in various types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. It has an extensive regional network: 28 regional directorates and branches.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky held a meeting in the format of a video conference with German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday.
“During the meeting in the format of a video conference with German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed the situation on the front, the need to increase defense support for Ukraine, the diplomatic process of implementing the Ukrainian Formula for Peace,” Zelensky said in his telegram.
He stressed that Ukraine appreciates the important defense decisions taken earlier this year by the German leadership, as well as the weighty support in humanitarian, financial and defense spheres since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
“Thank you for Germany’s comprehensive assistance to the Ukrainians. For the help that has made our army stronger than financial support. Separately, I want to thank the citizens of Germany for the shelter of Ukrainians in this difficult period,” – said the President of Ukraine.
According to the press service of the President of Ukraine, the talks of the leaders took place on the day of the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany.
They strongly condemned Russian rocket and drone terror against civilians and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Ukraine. In this regard, Volodymyr Zelenski noted Germany’s assistance in strengthening Ukraine’s air defense with the IRIS-T system, which has proven to be very good at protecting the skies and saving lives, as well as decisions to provide Ukraine with Patriot SAMs and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
The Ukrainian president also praised the assistance of the FRG through interregional and intercity cooperation: “Our patronage over the Ukrainian-German network of municipalities is yielding results. We can see it from the volume of interaction between the cities of our states”.
Zelensky thanked the German side separately for the decision of the Bundestag to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
The leaders expressed their hope for the soonest return of peace to the Ukrainian land.
Ukrzaliznytsia has successfully completed testing Starlink-based wi-fi on Intercity trains, head of the company Alexander Kamyshyn said in Telegram on Tuesday.
“Test results: availability on the route 97%, speeds up to 100 Mbps. Vice Prime Minister Kubrakov has set us the task now to deploy the pilot to all Intercity trains. By the end of the year the task will be accomplished”, – noted the head of the railway operator.
According to his words, the train was equipped with Starlinks “by partisan methods” and tested on different routes for more than 100 days.
Kamyshin said that he called from the train via video link to the Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov and thanked him for his support.
In turn, Fedorov said that Ukrzaliznytsia has already received 450 Starlink terminals and by the end of the year will receive another part, in particular, from the batch that Germany will provide Ukraine in early February.
“Thousands of Starlink we will receive from Germany, I think, in early February,” said the deputy prime minister.
As reported, the last batch – 8 thousand terminals – was helped to Ukraine by Poland. More than 30 thousand Starlink terminals have already been deployed in the country.
State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) on Tuesday for the first time sold the seaport at online privatization auction in “Prosorro.Sells”: the price of “Ust-Dunaysk” has increased more than threefold – up to 201 million UAH from 60.01 million UAH. According to the information in the system, eight bidders competed for the facility. The winner was “Elixir Ukraine” LLC, associated with the working at the grain market group “Vimexim”: it bypassed LLC “Trading Company” East “and” Ukrdoninvest “, which were also willing to pay over 200 million UAH.
LLC “Metallbud Alliance”, “Seinerston”, “Tybex” and “Financial Company Concord Factoring” stopped at just over 150 million UAH, and LLC “Citadel Development” – 110 million UAH.
As noted FGI, since April 1, 2022, the port “Ust-Dunaisk” resumed its work and since then has transshipped 153 thousand tons of grain and 58.3 thousand tons of imported consumer goods for export at the design capacity of 4.1 million tons.
“This is the first port privatized in the Prozorro.Sales system. A landmark event that shows the state is ready. More than twice as much competition as the average at privatization auctions, and the multiple increase in price is a confirmation of the readiness of businesses to compete for such assets,” the director of GP “Prozorro.Sells” Alexei Sobolev said in a statement from the IGF.
The fund specified that the winner has 20 working days to pay the price of the lot after the auction. Only after the receipt of funds in the budget signed a contract of sale.
Port “Ust-Dunaisk” consists of three assets: the port in Vilkovo (Odessa region), port point “Kilia” in the city of the same name and special ships service base on Shabash Island. Loading-unloading operations are carried out at Kiliya port point, located at 54th km of the Danube River. Danube. The passport depths at the pier are 3 m, the actual depth is 1.5 m.
According to the information on the website, Elixir Ukraine LLC is engaged in the wholesale trade of chemical products. Since 2016, it has been the official representative of Elixir Zorka, a Serbian manufacturer of complex mineral fertilizers.
The company’s revenue for the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 666.87 million UAH, net profit – 50.06 million UAH.
The company is headed by Oleksandr Vikhrenko, while the beneficiary is Valeriy Vikhrenko, owner of Vimexim.
OJSC “Carton and Paper Company” (Lviv), major Ukrainian producer of carton sleeves and sanitary products, in 2022 increased production volume by 51.5% as compared to 2021 – up to UAH 1 billion 186 million.
According to statistics provided to agency “Interfax-Ukraine” statistical association “UkrPapir” in terms of volume the company slightly increased the output of paper-base for hygiene products – up to 7.04 thousand tons, while increasing the production of toilet paper rolls by 43% – to 4.1 million pieces.
Production of cardboard products also increased slightly (1.1%) – to 26.7 thousand tons.
As reported with reference to statistics “UkrPapyr”, the mill has continued to work all months from the beginning of this year, reducing the output of paper and paperboard in March (to March 2021), but in April has already gone to a positive trend, which remained in the following months.
“Carton and Paper Company” (until 2011 – “Lvivkartonoplast”) produces products and semi-finished products from waste paperboard (cardboard sheets, corners, sleeves), cellulose and recycled waste paper (toilet paper, towels, napkins TM Papero).
The owners of the company are four individuals, three of whom own equal shares of nearly 27.78%, one – 16.67%.
In 2021 the company produced UAH 782.7 mln worth of products, which is 47% more than the year before.
