Slovakia has handed over to Ukraine all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets that were promised, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic reports.
“Slovakia has already handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine. After four units were piloted by Ukrainian pilots in March this year, the remaining nine units were also successfully handed over to Ukrainian forces,” the statement posted on the website on Monday said.
Slovakia’s Defense Minister Jaroslav Nagy noted that “this transfer was carried out by land, taking into account the maximum possible safety.” He also expressed his gratitude to “all the components involved, because in such cases it is a really important and complex logistical operation.”
Nagy emphasized that the MiG-29 fighters “represent a significant support for Ukraine” against the Russian aggressor and to protect human lives.
“In addition, unlike our neighbor, these aircraft were unsuitable for us. We are doing the right thing,” the minister said.
Oil prices are stable on Monday after a rise last week on fears of supply shortages in the market.
June Brent futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange stood at $86.28 a barrel by 8:10 a.m. Monday, down $0.03 (0.03%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $0.22 (0.3%) to $86.31 a barrel on Friday.
The price of WTI futures for May at electronic trades of NYMEX fell by $0.04, to $82.48 per barrel by that time. At the end of previous session the cost of contracts grew by $0.36 (0.4%) to $82.52 per barrel.
Last week Brent gained 1.4% and WTI gained 2.3%. Both grades rose in price for the fourth week in a row.
The market was supported by the forecast published on Friday by the International Energy Agency, according to which the global supply shortage in the third quarter will amount to 2 million barrels per day. “A serious oil deficit in the second half of the year was previously expected, but another reduction (of production by OPEC+ countries – IF-U) threatens to further squeeze supply and increase oil prices at a time when inflationary pressures are already hurting vulnerable consumers,” the agency said in a review.
In the second quarter, the deficit will be 400 thousand b / c, IEA predicts. Previously, the agency expected demand to exceed supply only in the third quarter. The average deficit in 2023 is estimated at 800,000 bpd.
OPEC, which published its monthly forecast a day before the IEA, still expects oil demand to increase by 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023, to 101.89 million bpd – above pre-survey levels.
“Obviously, the recent decision by OPEC+ countries to cut production has given a boost to oil prices,” said ING Groep NV analyst Warren Patterson. – Nevertheless, we are seeing refiners’ profit margins shrink, indicating weak demand for petroleum products.”
S&P Global Inc. notes signals of lower diesel demand both in China and in the U.S. and Europe.
Ukraine on April 17, may start exporting electricity to Slovakia in the amount of 200 MW per hour, said NEC “Ukrenergo”.
According to its message in the Telegram channel on Saturday, the relevant auction for the allocation of capacity of interstate sections in the direction of Slovakia was held today for the delivery date of April 17.
The auction allocated 100 percent of the available capacity on that direction to four bidders.
According to Ukrenergo’s auction platform, DTEK Zakhidenergo (115-135 MW per hour), DE Trading (47-49 MW per hour, Le Trading Ukraine (5-20 MW per 18 hours), TES (20 MW per hour) shared all 200 MW of the section.
At the same time, for the first time since the opening of exports since April 11, the companies did not just book the section, but competed on the price for it. As a result, the minimum price per MWh was 307.5 UAH/MWh, while the maximum was 1.3 thou UAH/MWh.
In total, companies in 24 hours on Monday have to pay almost 3.4 million UAH for the cross-section to Poland.
At the same time, electricity exports to Moldova rose by 59.2% on Saturday to 1,777 MWh, and to Poland, after a two-day break, to 1,775 MWh per day, according to data on the website of the continental European Network of System Operators ENTSO-E.
According to the information on the website, supplies to Moldova will be carried out 18 hours a day with a minimum of 99 MW and a maximum of 130 MW, while supplies to Poland will be 75 MW at all hours, except for the first hour of the day, which was 50 MW.
As of April 15, 289-290 MW of the offered 650 MW of the hourly capacity of the section to Moldova were booked by 6 companies: Ukrhydroenergo PJSC (100 MW for each hour), D. Trading (99 MW per hour), Artlex Energy (40 MW per hour), DE Trading (30 MW per hour), ERU Trading (20 MW per hour) and EES (1 MW per 4 hours). The state energy trader “EKU”, which used to book 150 MW per hour for several days, did not participate in the auction this time.
As reported, exports to Moldova were 150 MWh on April 11, 497 MWh per day on April 12, 965 MWh on April 13 and 1116 MWh on April 14. Poland has so far only been supplied with 1,625 MWh on April 12. At that time, DTEK Zakhidenergo reserved all of the offered 75 MWh per hour.
After a break on April 13-14, this company booked the same capacity for April 15.
The Ministry of Energy resumed electricity exports by a decision of April 7, after which the NEC Ukrenergo began auctioning cross-section capacity for exports to Moldova and Poland, and decided to open exports to Slovakia.
The Ministry of Energy notes that the export will be carried out in conditions of a surplus of electric power and only if the priority of supplies to Ukrainian consumers is observed. Exports have been halted since October 11 after the start of massive attacks on the energy system.
The maximum throughput allowed by ENTSO-E for electricity exports to Europe is 400 MW. “Ukrenergo is working with its European colleagues on the possibility of increasing this volume.
The net inflow to Ukraine during the week of April 8-14 decreased from a record 97 thousand people a week earlier to 56 thousand, which is also very high and can be explained by the Easter holidays.
According to the State Border Service on Facebook, the flow to leave Ukraine during that week slightly increased – from 241 thousand to 246 thousand people, while the flow to enter decreased from 338 thousand to 302 thousand people.
The number of cars crossing the western Ukrainian border, according to the department, in the 15th week of the year decreased from 132 thousand to 123 thousand, and the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargoes, from 522 to 459.
The biggest net inflow to Ukraine – more than 10 thousand people per day – was fixed on Friday and at week-ends.
Polish State Border Service also recorded a decrease in the net inflow to Ukraine for the last seven days – 49.4 thousand people compared to 87.7 thousand a week earlier.
According to the Polish Ministry, the weekly flow from Ukraine to Poland increased from 155.3 thousand people to 157.3 thousand, whereas the return flow from Poland to Ukraine decreased from 243 thousand people to 206.7 thousand.
All in all, from the beginning of the war to April 14, 2023, 11,107 million people arrived in Poland from Ukraine, whereas 9,375 million people went in the opposite direction.
As it was reported, since May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine was replaced by an inflow, which lasted until September 23 and amounted to 409 thousand people.
However, during the last week of September, the net outflow was 28 thousand people at once, and one of the possible reasons was a reaction to mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then the probable reason for the continued net outflow was the massive shelling of energy infrastructure. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December and early January for the period of holidays, but from the second week of January it resumed again and cumulatively reached 223 thousand people by the anniversary of the full-scale war since late September.
However, since that moment 186 thousand more people entered Ukraine than left.
As Deputy Economy Minister Sergei Sobolev noted in early March, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home gives a 0.5% increase in GDP.
According to UNHCR data as of April 11, a total of 20.42 million people left Ukraine since the war began (not including the flow of people into the country), of which 10.75 million left for Poland, 2.85 million for Russia (data as of October 3), 2.49 million for Hungary, 2.21 million for Romania, 1.30 million for Slovakia, 0.80 million for Moldova and 0.02 million for Belarus.
At the same time, according to the UN, from February 28, 2022 to April 11, 2023, 11.89 million people arrived in Ukraine (excluding the data of Hungary, Russia and Belarus).
The number of Ukrainians registered in Europe with temporary protection status or similar reached 5.038 million on April 11, increasing by 11 thousand during the week.
Ukraine in January-March this year reduced exports of titanium-containing ore and concentrate in physical terms by 95.8% as compared to the same period last year – to 4.148 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), exports of titanium ores and concentrates decreased by 82.2% to $6.781 million.
At the same time, the main exports were shipped to Japan (47.35% in monetary terms), Turkey (19.73%) and India (8.89%).
Ukraine did not import these products during this period.
As previously reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced the export of titanium ore and concentrate in volume terms by 41.8% compared with the previous year – up to 322.143 thousand tons, in monetary terms by 19.6% – to $130.144 million. With that, the main exports were shipped to the Czech Republic (47.91% in monetary terms), the United States (11.94%) and Romania (9.75%).
In 2022, Ukraine imported 196 tons of similar products from Senegal (70.41%) and Turkey (29.59%) for $115 thousand.
In Ukraine, the titaniferous ores are currently mined mainly at United Mining and Chemical Company PJSC (UMCP), which controls Volnogorsky Integrated Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VMMC, Dnepropetrovsk Region) and Irshansky Integrated Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhitomir Region), as well as at Mezhdurechensky GOK LLC and Valki Ilmenit LLC (both Irshansk, Zhitomir Region).
In addition, the production and commercial firm VELTA (Dnipro) has built a GOK at the Birzulovskoye deposit with a capacity of 240 thousand tons of ilmenite concentrate per year.
Ukraine in January-March this year, Ukraine reduced the import of nickel ores and concentrates in physical terms by 97.4% compared to the same period last year – up to 7,238 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in monetary terms, imports of nickel ores decreased by 98% to $257,000 during the period.
Imports were from Guatemala (100% of shipments in monetary terms).
In 1Q2023, like in 1Q2022, Ukraine did not export or re-export this commodity.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced the imports of nickel ores and concentrates by 71.9% YoY to 346,719 tons. In monetary terms, imports of nickel ores decreased by 73.8% to $15.428 million. Imports were from Guatemala (100% of deliveries in monetary terms).
For 2022, like in 2021, Ukraine did not export or re-export this product.
Ukraine imports nickel ore from Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant (PFK, part of Solway Group).
PFC processes about 1.2 million tons of ore per year.
