Ukraine in January-March 2018 reduced natural gas imports by 56.5% (by 2.404 billion cubic meters) compared to the same period in 2017, to 1.819 billion cubic meters, according to data from PJSC Ukrtransgaz. According to calculations made by Interfax-Ukraine, in particular 1.248 billion cubic meters were received from Slovakia in January-March 2018 (65.7% less compared to January-March 2017), 339.7 million cubic meters from Hungary (37% up), and 231.1 million cubic meters from Poland (31.3% down).
Imports in March 2018 amounted to 673.9 million cubic meters of gas, which is 52.4% less than in March 2017 (1.403 billion cubic meters).
At the same time, Ukraine has not imported natural gas under the contract with Gazprom for more than two years (since November 26, 2015), purchasing it exclusively on its western border.
Ukrtransgaz, 100% owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates a system of trunk gas pipelines and 12 underground gas storage facilities in the country.
Air Malta airline plans to resume regular flights from Malta to Kyiv from June 19. According to a posting on the website of the airline, the flights will be serviced on Tuesdays. It will take around three hours to get to the Boryspil international airport. The fares start from $190 for a round trip.
Air Malta flied to Kyiv several years ago. Air Malta connects Malta with over 35 major cities across Europe and the Mediterranean.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) would provide a long-term loan of up to $30 million to Ukrainian agroholding Astarta. According to a posting on the website of the IFC, the decision was made by the IFC Board on March 23. This program aims to improve resource efficiency at the company’tiss processing facilities through the implementation of Best Available Technology (BAT) that is technology for limiting pollutant discharges; and at improving farming and trading of grains and oilseeds through financing of farming equipment and storage facilities.
The IFC said that this will be the fourth program of cooperation with Astarta, starting from 2012. Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Kharkiv regions.
The Smart Energy Group has sent a proposal to Ukrgazvydobuvannia to resume one of the wells of the Hostroverkhivske field (Kharkiv region), the group’ press service has reported. The deposit use license for the field belongs to Smart Energy, while the well belongs to Ukrgazvydobuvannia.
Ukrgazvydobuvavnnia, which is wholly owned by NSJC Naftogaz Ukrainy, is a large gas processing company, which accounts for about 75% of total gas output in the country.
Smart Energy is the managing company in Smart-Holding Group of Vadim Novinsky. It is responsible for the development of projects in the field of hydrocarbon production and alternative energy.
The share of Artwinery, a large producer of sparkling wine in Eastern Europe, of the Ukrainian sparkling wine market totaled 20.6% compared with 19.4% in 2016, the company has reported. “The volume of production of sparkling Artvineri over the past year amounted to 10.26 million bottles against 12.3 million bottles in 2016. The average annual volume of export sales of sparkling wines of the company is about 15% of the total figure,” Marketing Director of Artwinery Yevhenia Stadnyk told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, EU countries (in particular Germany), the CIS countries (Russia, Azerbaijan) and the countries of Asia are promising directions for the company’s export development.
The marketing director pointed out that the wine materials for the production of sparkling wines come to the enterprise from the wine-growing enterprises of the Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. In addition, there are wine materials of the Crimean peninsula of the 2012-2013 harvest in the reserves of the enterprise.
“The entire production cycle is located at a depth of more than 72 meters in underground gypsum tunnels, which keep the temperature and humidity constant all year round. The total area of the underground galleries used by Artwinery is over 25 hectares,” Stadnyk said.
She said that until now, there is no need to count on restoration of the sparkling wine market in Ukraine to the indicators of 2013, when the volume was 69 million bottles. Artwinery seeks to strengthen its positions on the Ukrainian market and further expand export geography.
