KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The German government intends to provide EUR 20 million to finance projects to build and reconstruct houses of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2017.
The press service of the Ministry for the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, the ministry is responsible for distribution of the funds.
The money will be provided in the form of grants to support construction and reconstruction projects.
The total sum agreed on by the governments of the two countries as part of technical and financial cooperation is EUR 72 million.
KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia seeks to invest $3 billion to purchase and modernize drilling rigs by 2020, as well as to attract external contractors to carry out the works at the company’s fields, Ukrgazvydobuvannia Head Oleh Prokhorenko has said.
“We assess drilling at $3 billion by 2020. This includes modernization of equipment and works,” he said at the 14th Fuel & Energy Complex of Ukraine: the Present and the Future international forum in Kyiv.
Prokhorenko said that the program includes acquisition of 30 new drilling rigs (by 2020), modernization of 32 existing rigs (in 2016-20180 and drilling of around 660 new wells (71 wells in 2016), 88 wells in 2017, 131 wells in 2018, 166 wells in 2019 and 201 wells in 2020). The company intends to attract 15 rigs of international contractors in 2017.
“The task is to expand our fleet and the fleet of contractors. We will try to have 114 rigs in operation by 2020 and increase the speed of commercial drilling,” he said, adding Ukrgazvydobuvannia now drills 297 meters per rig a month, while the figure of external contractors is around 900 meters per rig a month.
Prokhorenko believes that $3 billion of investment into the expansion of drilling in 2016-2020 is not a sky-high figure. He took $54 billion Ukraine sent to import Russian gas in 2009-2013 as an example.
He also said that investment of $500 million in outsourcing would help to drill 90 wells by 15 rigs and get an additional 3.3 billion of cubic meters of natural gas a year. This is a good figure for saving compared to purchases of imported gas.
He said that the company would conduct 3D seismic works on 17 fields with gross area of 1,500 square meters in coming years.
KYIV. Nov 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have discussed stepping up trade, economic and investment cooperation, participation in the privatization process and resumption of air travel during an official visit of Poroshenko to Ljubljana.
“The Ukrainian president noted the interest of Ukraine in enhancing trade-economic and investment cooperation with Slovenia. The parties noted that the DCFTA between Ukraine and the EU opened new opportunities for that,” the press service of the head of state reported.
Poroshenko invited Slovenian companies to join privatization in Ukraine.
The parties agreed to promptly complete procedures necessary for the restoration of direct air connection between the countries.
Poroshenko expressed gratitude to the Slovenian government for the provision of TV and radio broadcasting equipment and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine due to the aggression of Russia in Donbas.
“The parties agreed to implement projects on demining and protection of civilians in Donbas within the International Trust Fund to enhance human security. For this end, the intergovernmental agreement in the sphere of mine action will be concluded,” the press service said.
The prime minister of Slovenia expressed full support for the provision of the visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the EU. He praised the progress of Ukraine in the implementation of reforms in the economy.
BAKU. Nov 8 (Interfax) – The prime ministers of the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) Organization for Democracy and Economic Development are due to discuss transport corridors and a free trade zone, GUAM Secretary General Altai Efendiyev told Interfax.
“Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has initiated a meeting of GUAM prime ministers in Kyiv to focus on the implementation of a transport corridor and the completion of procedures, which will start up a free trade zone between our states,” Efendiyev said.
A business forum will be held on the sidelines of the prime ministers’ meeting, he said.
“The Kazakh head of government has also been invited to the meeting of the prime ministers, which means this meeting will be held in the GUAM+ format. We think this is necessary because the logical continuation of this route will make sense,” Efendiyev said.
Ukrainian commodities should reach consumers in the East, while cargo traffic from the East, including Central Asia, should reach European markets, he said.
“We are actually setting the task to reanimate transport corridors through a major project incorporating the interests of practically all countries, including China and European nations. If we manage to make this project attractive and competitive through joint efforts, it can become a foundation of stable and safe economic cooperation in the highly unstable and unpredictable region,” the GUAM secretary general said.
The project is highly important for the Visegrad Group and the Baltic countries, he said. “The Baltic Council has shown interest in the possibility to connect the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. This idea has been discussed for a long time and it is very close to coming true,” Efendiyev said.
In his words, GUAM has been closely interacting with Washington and Tokyo in the GUAM+ U.S. and GUAM+ Japan formats.
“We are eyeing Poland and the Czech Republic as partners in particular projects, and we are also interested in cooperation with the Visegrad Group,” the GUAM secretary general said.
Back on January 15, 2016, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry jointly with Ukrzaliznytsia organized the demonstration trip of a container train along the new Silk Road, from Ukraine to China through Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (via the Caspian and Black Seas). It took the train 16 days to reach China early in the morning of January 31.
KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine as of November 4 had threshed 55.9 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops from 12.8 million hectares (90% of the forecast), whereas a year ago as of November 3 it collected 55.6 million tonnes from 13.3 million hectares (95% of the forecast).
According to the press service of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, this year the average yield of cereals rose to 43.5 centners per ha from 40.2 centners per ha last year.
Corn harvest from 2.8 million hectares (67% of the forecast) amounted to 16.9 million tonnes, the yield increased to 59.7 centners/ha from 53.4 centners/ha.
Buckwheat was collected from 148,000 ha (99%) in the amount of 189,000 tonnes compared to 141,000 tonnes past year, in particular due to the rise in yield from 11.4 centners/ha to 12.7 centners/ha.
Millet was harvested from 103,000 ha in the amount of 187,000 tonnes (98%), whereas in the past year the country harvested 210,000 tonnes of this crop due to a higher yield (20 centners/ha against 18.2 centners/ha this year).
The country is continuing to harvest sunflower: with the forecast being 5.9 million hectares the crop has been harvested from an area of 5.7 million hectares (96%) in the amount of 12.6 million tonnes. Its yield rose to 22.2 centners/ha compared to 21.4 centners/ha last year, when farmers harvested 10.6 million tonnes.
The harvest of soybeans by November 4 amounted to 3.7 million tonnes from 1.6 million hectares (90% of the forecast) with a substantial increase in yield to 22.4 centners/ha from 17.3 centners/ha last season, when the figure stood at 3.5 million tonnes.