Gas transit through Ukraine increased again after completing the usual weekend decline – to the standard level.
UKRAINIAN TRANSIT
“Ukraine’s GTS Operator (OGTSU) accepted a 42.4 million cubic meters transit request from Gazprom for Tuesday, the Ukrainian company said. The nomination for Monday was 40 million cubic meters. The capacity is claimed for only one of the two entry points into the country’s GTS, the Sudzha gas metering station. No bid was accepted for the corridor through the Sohranovka gas metering station.
EUROPEAN MARKET
Electricity generation from wind turbines in Europe last week already accounted for 21% of the region’s needs. Monday’s figure is roughly the same (20.8 percent), according to the WindEurope Association.
On Monday the price of gas rose by 4%. The day-ahead contract at the TTF hub in the Netherlands closed at $481 per thousand cubic meters.
The gap in LNG prices in Asia compared to Europe is noticeable. The May JKM Platts futures (Japan Korea Marker, reflecting the spot market value of cargoes shipped to Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan) traded at $447; the North West Europe LNG futures (LNG North West Europe Marker) was $426.
RESERVES IN EUROPE
Europe’s current gas reserve level is 56.02%, 22 percentage points above the average for the same dates over the past five years, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
Gas reserves rose by a symbolic 0.05 percentage points on the weekend of March 26. The inventory build-up has continued for five days in a row.
European LNG receiving terminals operated at an average capacity of 63 percent in February and have been showing 66 percent utilization since early March. US STORAGE STOCK.
The state of U.S. UGS inventories is becoming increasingly important to the global market as the country actively ramps up exports.
During the next reporting week, reserves dropped by 2 bln cubic meters – a noticeable increase (60%) from the normal level at that time.
The current inventory level is 39%, 23 percentage points above the average for the last five years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Freeport LNG, the largest U.S. LNG plant, has restarted all three liquefaction lines. This reduces the surplus gas in the U.S. market and increases global supply.
Canada is going to provide a $1.8 billion loan to Ukraine through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in budget year 2023, CBC TV channel reported with reference to the country’s draft budget.
“Canada will extend a $2.4 billion Canadian dollars ($1.8 billion) loan to Ukraine in the coming budget year. The measure is contained in the latest federal budget, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland,” the report said.
The loan for Ukraine will be distributed through the IMF. It is intended to cover the budget deficit and pay for social services, including medical services.
According to the TV channel, separately, the Canadian federal budget also announced CAD 84 million (almost $62 million) in additional direct humanitarian aid for Ukraine in the coming fiscal year – money which will be used for mental health services, the removal of mines and other measures. The money will come out of the existing budget at Global Affairs Canada.
Honorary president of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation, member of the executive committee of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), honored coach of Ukraine Albina Derugina passed away at the age of 92, according to the NOC Facebook page on Wednesday.
“On behalf of the entire Olympic family we express our sincere condolences to Albina Nikolayevna’s family, friends, colleagues and pupils. Blessed and kind memory,” the message reads.
The NOC noted that Deryugina came to rhythmic gymnastics at the dawn of its birth and is considered the founder of the sport in Ukraine.
“Over the years she brought up more than one generation of gymnasts who won Olympic awards, won world and European championships, increasing the sporting fame of Ukraine. Today her students are known throughout the world and the solid foundation she laid allows her to bring more and more Ukrainian talents to the podium, maintaining the unique style of the Ukrainian school of rhythmic gymnastics,” underlined the Committee.
Deryugina was the head coach of the USSR national rhythmic gymnastics team until 1992 and since 1986 she has been the President of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation. In Kiev, she organized a school of rhythmic gymnastics, which gained worldwide fame.
After 1992 she was a head coach of the Ukrainian team, a member of the executive committee of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. Deryugina is a Hero of Ukraine, Honored Coach of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Ukraine.
In an interview with the Associated Press, it is noted that Zelenskyy extended an invitation to Ukraine to one notable and strategically important leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We are ready to see him here. I want to speak with him. I had contact with him before full-scale war. But during all this year, more than one year, I didn’t have,” the Associated Press said, citing Zelenskyy.
On March 30, an appeal will be filed with the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court. After that, former Boryspil Airport CEO Yevhenii Dykhne, Head of the Airport’s Lease Relations Service Olesia Levochko, and their lawyers Oleksii Nosov (Miller Law Firm) and Artem Krykun-Trush (Rostrum Law Firm) are invited to a press briefing.
On March 1, the High Anti-Corruption Court issued a guilty verdict against Yevhen Dykhne, former head of Boryspil International Airport State Enterprise, and Olesya Levochko, head of the lease agreements department.
This decision caused a great deal of resonance not only in legal circles, but also among the thinking part of society. First of all, because Yevheniy took over the airport in 2014 with a loss of UAH 500 million. Already in 2017, the airport’s profit amounted to UAH 1.7 billion.
In addition, during this period, Borspil Airport doubled its passenger traffic, doubled its budget contributions, became one of the largest taxpayers in Ukraine, and began to take the top spot in the ACI Europe airport growth ranking. This is the first court decision to convict for efficiency and activity instead of inactivity.
The only way to restore justice in this situation is to overturn the decision of the court of first instance and justify effective decisions made even under imperfect legislation.
In the case of Olesia Levochko and Yevhenii Dykhne, the HACC did not find corruption; it was not proven that they acted intentionally and jointly; neither did they prove that they pursued their own selfish interests nor the interests of third parties. They did not harm the state. Instead, they were accused of the fact that the state could have earned more if “incompetent and inefficient employees of the State Property Fund” had not acted.
Why is this decision a dangerous legal precedent for all public servants without exception?
The day before, Miller Law Firm published a legal analysis of the HACCU decision with important arguments of the defense that were not ignored in the verdict. The material is available here.
During the press briefing, the lawyers plan to present all the case materials so that all interested parties can use them as a case study.
The press conference will be held on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Miller’s office at 4 Vvedenska St., office. 1, Kyiv.
Please note: Media representatives are kindly requested to register for the event by calling Miller’s PR department:
+380 (66) 024 12 94 and in any messenger convenient for you.
Import changes in % to previous period in 2021-2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
