The Italian Ministry of Business and Production, the Tuscany region and the municipality of Pembino have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group to develop the metallurgical sector in the region.
According to official information from the Italian Ministry, the memorandum was signed with Metinvest Adria SpA, Metinvest B.V., Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche SpA, to ensure conditions for the restart of the steel plant in Piombino.
It is specified that this is “a decisive step for the restart of the Pembino site, which will play an increasingly central role in the national steel industry plan.”
It is also reported that the purpose of the industrial project is to develop, construct, own, operate, and maintain an environmentally sustainable plant for the production of finished steel products derived from the processing of ferrous metals into hot-rolled coils for further processing, which will be built in Pembino on an area of approximately 260 hectares. The project will be financed through external financing and government grants.
The Pembino steel complex is one of the main steel processing centers in Italy and Europe, and the Ministry of Business and the Made in Italy project aim to support the resumption of rail production and simultaneously launch the production of hot-rolled coils in order to restore operations, preserve employment and reduce imports of steel products to Italy from non-EU countries. This has renewed interest in the feasibility of the integrated industrial development project presented by Metinvest Adria S.p.A., Metinvest B.V. and Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.P.A., the ministry said in a statement.
The signatories to the agreement undertake to immediately conduct an agreed feasibility study aimed at determining the conditions for stable and long-term operation of the hub, as well as increasing the industrial and production potential of the territory, giving preference to solutions that are most compatible with the urban environment.
When fully operational, the project will employ about 1,500 direct and indirect workers and will have a significant economic impact on other related industries at the regional and national level, the information says.
The Ministry of Business and Made in Italy will coordinate a working group involving all competent national and local institutions to stimulate the creation of manufacturing plants.
Potential investors: Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection, Tuscany Region, Municipality of Piombino, Port, System Authority, State Property Agency.
The Protocol defines the conditions for concluding a Program Agreement within four months in accordance with Article 252 bis of the Consolidated Environmental Law.
Italian Minister of Business and Production Adolfo Urso said that “the agreement marks a decisive step towards the restart of the Pembino complex, which will play an increasingly central role in the context of the national steel industry plan, together with Taranto, Terni and the steel mills of northern Italy.”
Eugenio Giani, President of the Tuscany region, added that “the memorandum of understanding is the first and necessary signal of the investment proposed by Metinvest and Danieli, as well as a concrete sign of cooperation between the institutions to guarantee the future of steel production in Italy.”
“Tuscany is a land open to foreign investment, and the Pembino region has been favored by metallurgy since the Etruscan times. The Metinvest-Danieli project will have the support of the Tuscany region. (…) We hope that another investment project of JSW Steel Italy can also be realized, given the interdependencies and possible complementarities between the production of flat products (by Metinvest) and long products (by Jsw). We have guaranteed significant investment in the port and infrastructure, an opportunity that the Metinvest-Danieli duo has clearly recognized, and we will work over the next 4 months to reach a binding programmatic agreement with a timeframe for all,” explained Giani.
Pombino Mayor Francesco Ferrari said that “this agreement is a real opportunity for a restart that will return Pombino to the center of the national and international steel industry.”
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest B.V., said: “The agreement with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy marks a significant step towards creating one of the greenest and cleanest plants in Europe.
“This project, with a capacity of about 3 million tons of steel, will play a crucial role in Italy’s transition to green technology by introducing sustainable and environmentally friendly industrial methods. In addition, it will help to increase the utilization of our iron ore mining and processing facilities in Ukraine, leading to their modernization to produce high-quality pellets. Pembino is a cutting-edge project that, once completed, will become a real example of how cooperation between foreign industrial groups and Italian institutions can yield positive results,” Ryzhenkov emphasized.
Danieli Group President Gianpietro Benedetti said that “this agreement is the first important result that will lead to the creation of a plant that will be one of the first fully digital and will have an important positive impact on employment.”
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located primarily in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions.
The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Benchmark oil prices are declining on Monday morning after production resumed at Libya’s largest field.
Quotations of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:11 a.m. amounted to $78.23 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.42%) below the level at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts fell by $0.54 (0.7%) to $78.56 per barrel.
Prices for February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) decreased by $0.25 (0.34%) to $73.16 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the price of these contracts fell by $0.67 (0.9%) to $73.41 per barrel. February contracts will expire at the close of the market on Monday. Futures for March, which are traded more actively, are cheaper by $0.31 (0.42%) to $72.94 per barrel.
Last week, Brent rose by 0.3%, WTI by 1%.
On Sunday, the Libyan National Oil Corporation announced the lifting of the force majeure regime and the full resumption of production at the Ash Sharara field, which has a capacity of 300 thousand barrels per day.
The force majeure regime was in effect since January 7 due to protests that led to the suspension of supplies from the field to the Zawiya export terminal.
Export of important goods from Ukraine in jan-oct 2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ambassador Shri Harsh Kumar Jain handed over the 15th consignment of humanitarian aid from the Government and people of India, comprising ten 30 KVA generators, to Ms. Nataliya Lipska, Director of the “Kryla Nadiyi” Charitable Fund, in the presence of H.E. Mr. Maksym Kozytskyy, Head of the Lviv Regional State Administration, at the Lviv State Lyceum, on 19 January 2024.
The aid was provided at the request of Lviv Regional State Administration. Mr. Kozytskyy thanked the Government and people of India, on behalf of the people of the region, for responding to his request. He informed that the generators will be provided to eight educational institutions in the region to support their educational process.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador stated that India accords high priority to providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, during this difficult time, keeping in line with the human centric approach of the Government of India, a central tenet of India’s national beliefs and values, which perceive the whole world as one family.
He reiterated Government of India’s commitment to continue to provide humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine as conveyed by India’s Prime Minister H.E. Shri Narendra Modi to President of Ukraine H.E. Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting in Hiroshima in May 2023.
Government of India has previously provided 14 consignments of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and its neighboring countries as well as financial assistance to Kyiv Gymnasium of Oriental Language No. 1 for its project of reconstruction, remodeling and refurbishment of some of the rooms and Ukraine-India Association for its program aimed at restoration of psychological health of youth and children.
PJSC Ukrnafta has increased its reserves by 330 thousand tons of oil and 618 million cubic meters of gas by expanding the boundaries of two existing special permits, the company’s press service reports.
According to the company, the reason for expanding the boundaries of the special permits is to bring their size to the contours of the field’s productive deposits.
The subsoil area of the first special permit now amounts to 18.33 square kilometers, which is 23.1% more than the previously granted area. Total reserves increased by 217 thousand tons of oil and condensate and 232 million cubic meters of gas.
The area of the second license increased by 16.3% to 41.75 square kilometers. Total reserves increased by 113 thousand tons of condensate and 386 million cubic meters of gas.
“By 2023, the company has expanded the boundaries of special permits only twice. I thank the company’s employees who prepared and submitted the necessary applications and packages of documents to the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, after which the relevant orders were received, thus increasing the opportunities for resource extraction,” said Sergiy Koretsky, CEO of Ukrnafta.
As reported, in 2023, Ukrnafta increased oil and condensate production by 3% (by 39.9 thousand tons) compared to 2022 – up to 1 million 409.9 thousand tons, gas production by 5.8% (by 60.4 million cubic meters), up to 1 billion 97.4 million cubic meters.
“Ukrnafta’s strategic goal is to double its oil and natural gas production to 3 million tons and 2 billion cubic meters by 2027, respectively.
“Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil producer and operator of a national network of 537 filling stations, of which 456 are in operation.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer the corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense, to the state.
Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week dropped to $530.9 million from $673.3 million a week earlier, according to data on the regulator’s website on Friday.
According to the data, in the first half of this week, for which the central bank has already published data, purchases of foreign currency by bank clients increased from $205.3 million on Monday to $239.6 million on Wednesday.
The official hryvnia exchange rate weakened by only 9 kopecks over the first two days to 37.9247 UAH/$1 on Tuesday, after which it began to strengthen: by 3 kopecks on Wednesday, and then by 19 kopecks and 18 kopecks on Thursday and Friday, respectively. As a result, the official hryvnia exchange rate at the end of the week amounted to 37.5268 UAH/$1.
According to Raiffeisen Bank’s chief dealer Serhiy Zarytsky, the maximum hryvnia appreciation recorded on Friday on the interbank market was 37.5050 UAH/$1, while the dollar peaked at 37.68 UAH/$1.
The banker noted that the trading volume on Bloomberg on Friday increased slightly compared to Thursday: $159 million versus $130 million.
“The NBU, as always, controls the situation and continues to meet the needs of buyers. At present, the NBU’s interventions do not exceed the established volumes of structural demand,” Zarytsky emphasized.
According to his personal estimates, the regulator sold an amount ranging from $120 million to $150 million at the auction.
On Friday, the reference value of the exchange rate set by the National Bank at 12:00 increased by 23 kopecks to 37.5399 UAH/$1.
Since Monday, the hryvnia has strengthened by 0.8%, or 31 kopecks, and by 1.3%, or about 48 kopecks, compared to the exchange rate at the beginning of this year. Its weakening since the National Bank switched to managed flexibility on October 3, 2023, has decreased to 2.6%, or 92 kopecks.
On the cash market on Friday, the hryvnia strengthened by 0.4% to 38.25 UAH/$1, and by 1.6% or 61 kopecks since Monday.
According to the NBU’s monthly surveys, exchange rate expectations for the next year have deteriorated slightly. In particular, in October 2023, banks expected the exchange rate to be 41.16 UAH/$1 in the next 12 months, while the updated January forecast indicates that the hryvnia is expected to devalue by 0.4% to 41.31 UAH/$1. For their part, financial analysts have revised their forecast a little more significantly: they expect the hryvnia to depreciate by 0.5% to 40.29 UAH/$1 in December 2023, compared to their previous forecast.
As reported, in December, the NBU’s net sales increased to about $3.57 billion from $2.46 billion in November, $3.34 billion in October, and $2.69 billion in September. Last month, the Ministry of Finance attracted $5 billion in external financing, which increased international reserves by 4.4% in December to $40 billion 507.9 million, the second highest level in history after July 2023.
