More than 20 Ukrainian companies have entered the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, Deputy Energy Minister for European Integration Yaroslav Demchenkov said.
“More than 20 Ukrainian companies have already joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and, accordingly, the Green Hydrogen Initiative for the European Green Deal 2×40 GW of new hydrogen production capacities,” he said during the First German-Ukrainian Energy Day on Tuesday.
“Considering that the creation of 10 GW of new capacities for the production of ‘green’ hydrogen has been allocated to Ukraine, this imposes certain obligations on us,” Demchenkov noted.
According to him, already in January Ukraine will be ready to present an assessment of the potential for the development of the domestic hydrogen market, including its use in transport, as well as an assessment of the impact of this direction on the environment.
At the same time, the Deputy Minister pointed out that already now there is a portfolio of ten real projects for the development of “green” hydrogen, which can be implemented, including with German partners with the support of European financial institutions.
“We are interested in joint projects with German business,” Demchenkov stressed.
In turn, Pavlo Stanchak, Deputy Director General for Development and Transformation of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU) said that, having created a decarbonization group, GTSOU is actively exploring the possibilities of the gas transmission system for the transfer of hydrogen and mixtures with it, and is also preparing for a pilot project that will show these possibilities.
According to him, GTSOU has a significant stock of maneuverable capacities for pumping gas, which is several times higher than the needs, and they could be used to transport “green” hydrogen and mixtures.
EUROPEAN, EUROPEAN CLEAN HYDROGEN ALLIANCE, HYDROGEN, UKRAINIAN COMPANIES
According to the draft concept for the transformation of the coal industry, all unprofitable mines will be closed within ten years, and subsidies for coal enterprises from the budget will be reduced in the coming years, First Deputy Energy Minister Olha Buslavets has said. “The concept is already completing all the approval procedures. It provides that unprofitable mines will be closed within ten years, minimization of subsidies to the industry from the national budget will take place in the coming years,” she said during the First German-Ukrainian Energy Day on Tuesday. According to her, Ukraine intends to completely abandon fossil fuels by 2070.
At the same time, referring to the European Green Deal, Buslavets said the abandonment of fossils should occur gradually, without negative impact on the economy and people employed in the industry. “It is necessary to worry so that no one is left behind, this is the motto of a fair transformation of the coal industry, laid down in the European Green Deal. It should also happen here,” Buslavets said, drawing attention to the need to “attract real material and technical assistance from Ukraine’s partners” and creating incentives for the development of new businesses in coal regions.
As reported, the draft concept for the transformation of the coal industry provides for the division of mines into three groups: the first is the mines to be integrated with PJSC Centrenergo and are its resource base. The second is dual-use mines, that is, those that extract both steam and coking coal used in metallurgy. The third group is mines, which are subject to privatization not only as coal mining enterprises, but also as integral property complexes for the purpose of re-profiling.
Traffic in the airspace of Ukraine in November fell by 56.7% compared to November last year, the press service of the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) has reported.
In general, UkSATSE serviced 9,910 flights last month, of which 1,909 were domestic (a decrease of 15.6% from November 2019), 4,563 international (less by 62%) and 3,438 transit (down by 60%).
Ukrainian airlines performed 3,578 flights (53.4% less than in November a year earlier), foreign airlines 6,332 flights (58.3% less).
“The next year in the aviation segment is seen through the prism of a certified vaccine, new rules for transportation for passengers and a new economic reality for airlines. The rebirth of the industry will depend on macroeconomic factors, adjusted for aviation narrow-profile features. In positive circumstances, the recovery of the aviation market could occur much earlier than predicted. This is especially true for Ukraine,” Head of UkSATSE Andriy Yarmak said.
According to the agency, the dynamics of the number of flights in the airspace of Ukraine in 2020 remains low: June – 4,584 flights, July – 12,195, August – 16,690, September – 14,959, October – 13,041 flights.
However, UkSATSE notes that the situation with traffic in the sky may begin to change in the near future.
Philip Morris Ukraine, a large tobacco manufacturer, will soon file a motion with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington in response to the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) on a UAH 1.2 billion fine.
“Several years ago, the Antimonopoly Committee issued permits for the concentration of a company that practically ‘swallowed’ all distribution in the tobacco market. We actually had no choice with whom to work with. What happened next? Over time, the same Antimonopoly Committee declared that we, the producers, were to blame for ‘establishing a monopoly,’ and issued a huge fine to the producers,” said the company’s CEO Kostas Salvaras in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, back in February, the company filed a notification to the Ministry of Justice about the violation by the state of Ukraine of a number of obligations under the investment protection agreements. “The state has expired six months for the peaceful settlement of the dispute, and we have the right to initiate arbitration proceedings directly,” Salvaras said.
“At the moment, we have already prepared an application to the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington. We will submit an application shortly. We believe that we have a high chance of winning. When we win, we will be able to demand from the state not only return the fine paid by us, but also to compensate for our costs for lawyers,” said the director general of Philip Morris Ukraine.
As reported, the AMCU imposed a fine of UAH 6.5 billion for anti-competitive concerted actions on four cigarette producers, including a UAH 3.4 billion fine on the distributor Tedis Ukraine.
Later, Philip Morris Ukraine paid a fine to the AMCU for a total amount of more than UAH 1.18 billion in order to avoid the accrual of penalties.
PJSC Philip Morris Ukraine jointly with LLC Philip Morris Sales and Distribution are affiliated companies of Philip Morris International (PMI), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of tobacco products.
The company has been operating in Ukraine for over 20 years. It produces products at a factory in Kharkiv region.
In 2016, Ukraine became the seventh market in which Philip Morris launched IQOS, based on tobacco heating technology. Both affiliated companies employ over 1,300 people.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air plans to resume flights from Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv to 19 cities in ten countries.
Wizz Air will resume flights from Kyiv to Copenhagen, Pardubice, Billund, Vienna, Krakow, Lisbon, Hamburg, Budapest, Naples, Poznan, Bratislava and Katowice in December 2020, according to a press release of the company on Tuesday.
The airline plans to fly from Lviv to Berlin, Szczecin, Bratislava, Pardubice and Vilnius, and from Kharkiv to Krakow, Dortmund, Vienna, Gdansk and Wroclaw.
“The resumption of flights depends on the decision of the authorities to leave or remove this or that country from the list of the ‘green’ zone. Accordingly, in this case, the implementation of these flights will be postponed,” the company said. If the airline is forced to cancel the flight, customers whose reservations have changed will automatically receive a 120% compensation from the initial fare, calculated as a WIZZ credit, which can be used within 24 months from the date of flight cancellation. Passengers can also choose a cash refund.
Wizz Air started operating in Ukraine in 2008. Over the past period, has transported more than 11 million passengers to and from Ukrainian airports.
State-owned Ukreximbank (Kyiv) plans to reduce its presence in small towns and focus on interaction with large clients, Chairman of the bank’s board Yevhen Metsger said.
“We will focus on the model of optimizing our castes. This is a decrease in presence in small towns. We will remain in regional centers in order to participate and interact only with large clients,” he said during the Ukrainian Investment Roadshow on Tuesday.
As reported with reference to Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Yuriy Heletiy, the Cabinet of Ministers on December 9 plans to approve the strategy of Ukreximbank.
