Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINE INTERESTED IN BUILDING LNG TERMINAL IN CROATIA – GROYSMAN

KYIV. Nov 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine is interested in the construction of an LNG terminal in Croatia, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said after a meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Kyiv.

According to him, cooperation with Croatia in the energy sector is important for Ukraine.

“The fact that Croatia plans the construction of a new LNG terminal is fully in line with our priority, and we are ready to join the project with the partners, and we are interested to diversify gas supplies to Ukraine. We want this project to be successfully implemented,” Groysman said.

As reported, Croatia plans to build an LNG terminal on the Krka Island in the Adriatic Sea.

TURBOATOM TO SUPPLY SECOND CONDENSER FOR YUZHNOUKRAINSK NPP IN 2017

KYIV. Nov 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Turboatom (Kharkiv), the largest Ukrainian producer of turbine equipment, has signed a contract to modernize a condenser of the turbine of reactor one of Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant (NPP).

The company’s press service reported that this will be the second condenser the company will make for the NPP.

The cost of the contract is UAH 465 million. The production and shipping of the equipment is scheduled for March-December 2017.

The shipment of the first condenser for reactor two of Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP was finished in summer 2016.

Turboatom is the only Ukrainian producer of turbine equipment for hydro, thermal and nuclear power plants. The company supplies goods to 45 countries in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa.

KARPATYGAZ, UKRGAZVYDOBUVANNIA JOINTLY PRODUCE 54.7 MCM OF GAS IN OCT – MISEN

KYIV. Nov 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Joint operations of public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia and Karpatygaz LLC resulted in production of 53.7 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas and 2,700 tonnes of gas condensate in October, according to a posting on the website of Misen Energy АВ (Sweden, the owner of the controlling stake in Karpatygaz).

In addition, 400 tonnes of oil and 900 tonnes of liquefied gas were produced by the joint venture.

In October the joint venture sold 44.5 mcm of gas, and 7.8 mcm was used for technological needs of the Khrestyschynska compressor station. The entire amount of gas condensate and oil produced in October was sent for refining.

As reported, joint operations of Ukrgazvydobuvannia and Karpatygaz in 2015 resulted in a loss of UAH 87.317 million.

ANTONOV AIRLINES TO OPEN NEW U.K.-BASED REPRESENTATION FROM 2017

KYIV. Nov 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, a leading operator of An-124-100 transport aircraft, is opening a new representative office in the United Kingdom from January 1, 2017, Dreamlifts Ltd.

The new company will represent the Ukrainian airlines’ interests instead of Ruslan International (RI), which was formed in 2006 together with Russia’s Volga−Dnepr Airlines and which will cease operations on December 31, 2016, the press service of Antonov Airlines said.

Antonov Airlines is to introduce its team in the UK which will take the lead in the global sales and operations of this unique cargo aircraft. Dreamlifts Ltd (trading as Antonov Airlines) is managed by an international group of well-known experts from the outsize and heavyweight cargo industry, the press service said.

“With decades of experience between them, Antonov Company expects a seamless transition for its customers in the global supply chain and a continuation of its flexible and highly personal service,” the company said in an official statement.

“Antonov Airlines’ activities are supported by Antonov Company’s in-house design and development capabilities providing unrivalled expertise for the most challenging logistic projects. As the maintenance authority and life extension authority, we will continue to offer these proven and reliable airframes to the market for many years to come. We look forward to working with the experienced and exciting team in the UK, and can see a bright future going forward with our customers,” the press service quotes President of Antonov Company Oleksandr Kotsiuba as saying.

Antonov currently operates a fleet of seven An−124s including the AN−124−100M−150 with a payload of up to 150 tonnes. It also operates the unique capability An−225 Mriya with a 250 tonne payload and the world’s largest turboprop, the An−22 Antei.

Since 2006, Antonov Airlines jointly with Volga−Dnepr have implemented a contract under NATO’s Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS) program in the interests of the Alliance and the European Union. In December 2014, the contract was extended until the end of 2016.

Antonov Airlines hopes to continue cooperation under SALIS after it ceases cooperation with the Russian airlines.

As part of the new format of partnership with NATO, the Ukrainian company does not rule out that Leipzig will remain the base for the Ukrainian Ruslan planes.

As was reported, Ukraine in 2014 stopped shipments of military and dual-use commodities to Russia in connection with the annexation of Crimea and occupation of Donbas.

Ukraine’s government in May 2015 undid an intergovernmental agreement on military and technical cooperation with Russia, which had been in effect since 1993.

 

CYPRIOT AVELLANA GOLD LTD ACQUIRES CARPATHIAN MINING COMPANY

KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Avellana Gold Ltd. (Cyprus) has acquired 100% of PJSC Carpathian Mining Company (Karpatska Rudna Kompaniya, Berehove, Zakarpattia region) and will invest $400,000 in it, which is equivalent to UAH 10.404 million.

According to the company, the decision to raise funds was made on November 16 this year.

The ratio of the market value of funds raised to the value of the issuer’s assets, according to the latest annual financial report, is 68.65%.

The terms of attracting funds are not disclosed.

PJSC Carpathian Mining Company is the successor of Carpathian Mining Company LLC, which was registered on June 13, 2012. Its core business is production of non-ferrous metal ore. Its charter capital stands at UAH 13.55 million.

As of the second quarter of this year, Avellana Gold Ltd. (Cyprus) held 100% of PJSC Carpathian Mining Company.

 

PIVDENMASH PREPARES SHIPMENT OF FIRST TWO STAGES OF ANTARES LV TO U.S.

KYIV. Nov 18  (Interfax-Ukraine) – Dnipro-based Pivdenne Machine Building Plant named after Makarov (Pivdenmash) is preparing to ship to the U.S. Orbital ATK Inc. two main structures of the first stage of the Antares medium-class launch vehicle, whose cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS) under a contract with NASA have resumed in October after its upgrading.

According to a report on the Pivdenmash website, in late October, representatives of the American company inspected the missiles. At present, one of the rockets has already been loaded on the railway platform, the installation of the systems on the second rocket is being completed. This work is expected to end in November.

“It is planned that two missiles will be delivered to Mykolaiv port soon from where they will be sent to the launch site,” the report says.

Ukraine and the United States have been cooperating under the Antares program since 2008. Orbital ATK designed the Antares launch vehicle under a contract with NASA worth $1.9 billion.

The basic structure of the first-stage launcher was designed by Pivdenne Design Bureau and produced at Pivdenmash. Ukraine’s Hartron-Arkos, Hartron-Ucom, Chezara (Chernihiv Plant of Radio Equipment), and Rapid are also involved in cooperation on the project.

In October 2014, the launch to the International Space Station of a private cargo spacecraft, Cygnus, atop an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops flight facility in the state of Virginia ended in failure: the rocket exploded just seconds after the liftoff. The failure was traced to a fault in the first stage engines.

After this, Orbital ATK decided to replace the first stage engine. Following a tender for the new version of the Antares, Russian RD-181 oxygen-kerosene engines were selected as the engines of the first stage. Ukrainian experts ensured replacement and compatibility of the new engines of the first stage with a minimum change in the basic configuration of the missile.

Five launches of Antares are scheduled to be conducted by the end of 2018, six more between 2019 and 2024.

According to earlier reports, the U.S. plans to fully stop using Russian RD-180 engines, which are now used by the rocket Atlas 5 of the U.S. United Launch Alliance (ULA)., by 2019 due to the restrictions imposed on military-technical cooperation with Russia by the Congress in 2014. The supply of RD 180 engines, which are installed on new rocket Antares for the ISS, is now limited to the civilian sphere. Among the participants in the tender fort the development of engines to replace the Russian RD 190, which the U.S. Air Force announced in June 2015, was Ukraine’s design and construction bureau Pivdenne (Dnipro) with its new liquid RD 815.

At the moment, Ukraine and the U.S. continue negotiations on cooperation in rocket engines production.