Electric steelmaking complex Interpipe Steel of the international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe (Dnipro) in January-October this year increased steel production, according to recent data, by 23.9% compared to the same period last year, to 793,000 tonnes.
As the company told Interfax-Ukraine, 63,000 tonnes of steel were produced in October, while in September – 97,000 tonnes.
According to the information of the enterprise, the reason for a decrease in production volumes was the annual overhaul, which ended on November 1 after 12 days of repair work.
“In addition to traditional replacements of parts and assemblies, which are carried out regularly or periodically in each overhaul, during this time, five sections of a water-cooled gas duct, a bearing on an arc steel-making furnace, and technological axes were set on both continuous casting machines. We have completed all the planned work in full,” the company said in a statement.
Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company, a manufacturer of seamless pipes and railway wheels. The company’s products are supplied to more than 80 countries of the world through a network of sales offices located in the key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2020, Interpipe sold 662,000 tonnes of finished products, including 192,000 tonnes of railway products. Sales of railway products are carried out under the KLW brand.
The main pipe enterprises of Ukraine in January-October this year increased production of pipes from ferrous metals, according to recent data, by 15.9% compared to the same period last year – to 821,600 tonnes, in particular in October – 79,300 tonnes, while in September – 93,900 tonnes. Ukrtruboprom told Interfax-Ukraine, in particular, the enterprises of the association increased production of pipes by 30% in the ten months – up to 581,800 tonnes, while in October, compared to the same period last year, they increased production by 46.6%, but reduced by 9.3% from September 2021, to 67,600 tonnes. Ukrtruboprom Director General Heorhiy Polsky said Interpipe Niko Tube and Trubostal are showing positive dynamics, which in the ten months increased pipe production by 95.7% and 21.4%, respectively. At the same time, Centravis reduced production of stainless steel pipes by 5.9%, Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant – electric-welded pipes by 30.1%.Dnipropetrovsk Pipe Plant has already been declared bankrupt by the court and is in a state of liquidation. The chances of resuming production at it tend to zero.“Favorable conditions on foreign markets have been the main driver of growth in the production of seamless pipes at Ukrtruboprom enterprises for the eighth month in a row. World oil and gas prices, while maintaining high levels, provide good support for the consumption of oil and gas pipe products,” the CEO said. At the same time, he pointed out that high prices for energy resources in Ukraine continue to negatively “put pressure” on the cost of production of pipe plants. In addition, manufacturers of seamless pipes still experience a shortage of scrap metal, the main raw material for production, especially in the run-up to winter.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has allocated additional UAH 3.5 billion to local budgets for highways; this is about an additional amount of subventions from the national budget for public roads of local importance, streets and roads of communal property in settlements.
The relevant decision was made at the Wednesday government meeting.
According to the draft decision, based on the analysis of the rate of receipt of funds from the sources of the formation of the public road fund, it is expected that as of November 23, 2021, the overfulfillment of the annual revenue plan of the public road fund will be UAH 3.5 billion, and on December 31, 2021 it will be UAH 5.8 billion. In this regard, it is proposed to allocate an additional UAH 3.5 billion to finance the construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance of public highways of local importance, streets and communal property roads in 2021 at the expense of a special fund.
Climate conference COP26 kicked off in Glasgow, attended by dozens of world leaders. Experts from organizations that are part of the CAN EECCA network are closely following the negotiations. Below you can see their comments on the speeches of the representatives of their countries.
Before the start of the conference, the CAN EECCA network, which includes 60 environmental organizations, for the first time in its history prepared a common consolidated position addressed to the authorities of the countries of the region and international community.
CAN EECCA network organizations operate in 11 countries though representatives only of 5 of them took part in the COP26 Leaders Summit: Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. All of them have prepared beautiful speeches, but only a few have announced specific measures that they intend to take to combat the climate crisis.
Ukraine
“Our goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 (a 65% reduction compared to 1990, which is implied here, means that emissions from the 2019 level will decrease by only 6.5%, ed.) and to achieve climate neutrality not later than 2060.” – said the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. “In my opinion, in order to defeat [climate] global warming, we need global warming in relations between countries, where trust is melting every year.” – added Zelensky. The President also said that countries need to measure not only financial, but primarily environmental growth, not only GDP and inflation, but above all the level of cleanliness of air, water and land.
“In Ukraine, there is no long-term vision for the сlimate policy and for separate sectors that directly affect the climate. I wanted to hear the president’s statement about the readiness for real action, the date of coal phase out, the readiness to support the development of renewable sources, ensuring energy efficiency, allocating funds for counteracting and adapting to climate change, and finding internal resources for fulfillment of existing (not ambitious) goals. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Without this vision, Ukraine will not be able to be a worthy player in this global struggle,” – commented Yevgenia Zasyadko, head of the climate department at the NGO “Ekodiya”.
Georgia
“The Caucasus – a beautiful land of mountains, glaciers, and rivers — has already lost 40 percent of its glaciers. During the last two decades alone, the speed of glacier loss in the eastern Georgia has exceeded projections from the end of the twentieth century.” – said Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia. He added: “For its part, Georgia will achieve this by diversifying its renewable energy sector; expanding the share of wind and solar segments in its energy market; transforming the country’s urban mobility; developing low-carbon approaches in the construction, industrial, and waste sectors; advancing climate-smart technologies and services; and increasing the carbon-capturing capacity of Georgia’s magnificent forests”.
“We are glad that the Georgian delegation with the leadership of the Prime Minister is participating in the COP26 negotiations in Glasgow. As the Prime Minister stated: “No one should be left behind in this fight!”. It’s true and we need to see it in each policy and action in Georgia. We also need to have climate change issues as a priority in our social-political agenda, which we do not feel so far. Georgia is progressing in having national climate documents, however, their implementation and all the economic sectors and social groups collaboration will be crucial. If Georgia really is serious about climate issues, we need to have a dedicated ministry of environment to execute all these plans.” – comments Mariam Davidze from Green Alternative NGO.
Kazakhstan
“Kazakhstan will increase the volume of energy from renewable sources 5 times from 3% to 15%, energy production from environmentally friendly sources – 2 times from 20% to 38%. The potential for carbon capture will be increased by planting over 2 billion trees by 2025. It is planned that the share of energy generated from coal will decrease from 70% to 40%,” – Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin said.
“The legislative framework in the field of environment protection and sustainable development is rapidly improving in Kazakhstan. International cooperation for joint efforts to respond to climate change is growing stronger, and significant reforms are being carried out. But implementation of policies in the regions is unfortunately still weak. Very ambitious goals have been set that are difficult to achieve in practice. In addition, there are many conflicting decisions. For example, can planned construction of waste incineration plants really be attributed to an environmentally friendly source of energy generation?” – comments Lyudmila Petrova, CSO “Angel”.
Kyrgyzstan
“Kyrgyzstan will try to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 on its green development platform. The driving force behind this carbon-free policy will be renewable energy sources, primarily hydropower. ” – said the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov during his speech. He also proposed to create a separate fund to finance mountainous countries, since mountainous countries are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. 94% of Kyrgyzstan’s relief is mountains, and the country is also prone to climatic problems such as melting glaciers, water scarcity and an energy crisis.
“We are undoubtedly pleased with the participation of the country’s president in high-level climate negotiations. Kyrgyzstan has revised its national contributions before this event and now they are, according to the developers, quite ambitious. The president’s speech was generally reassuring, but it is necessary to focus on the development of other renewable energy sources, for example solar and wind energy, as well as cooperate with the civil sector and experts, to demonstrate the openness and transparency of the state in resolving the climate crisis “, – Maria Kolesnikova, director of the MoveGreen NGO.
Armenia
“The long-term objective of Armenia is to achieve climate neutrality in the second half of this century. Transition to climate neutrality is at the core of the country’s energy independence, energy security and green growth policies. Our vision of resilient and low-carbon growth is directly connected to a solid and effective adaptation strategy based on an ecosystem approach, reforestation, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, new high technologies, promotion of electric mobility and further development of nuclear energy.” – said the President of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan.
“The speech of the Armenian President did not disappoint only because it was not unexpected from the point of view of Armenia’s position on the NDC. Alas, “a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels” means nothing more than a 50% increase in current emissions. This, let us say, populist trick is used, as a rule, by some former USSR countries, which had a deep recession in the economy and, as a result, in greenhouse gas emissions. In 1990 Armenia’s emissions amounted to 25 million tons, and the current level is about 10 million tons. – said Amalia Hambartsumyan and Aram Gabrielyan from the NGO “Khazer”. The CAN network also does not support plans for the development of nuclear energy, because it is a very expensive, time-consuming, dangerous source of energy, and the problem of waste disposal has not yet been resolved.
“We have heard many good statements – Kyrgyzstan and Armenia plan to officially approve the goal of climate neutrality, Ukraine and Kazakhstan intend not to deviate from this path and achieve the goal by 2060. Georgia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are some of the most vulnerable countries in our region. They need additional funding to adapt and cover loss and damage from climate disasters. At the same time, countries with a large amount of industry, like Ukraine and Kazakhstan, should reduce the use of fossil fuels and declare a date for the complete phase out. The fact that until 2030 Kazakhstan will still be dependent on coal in its energy balance by 40% will only add economic challenges to the country. It is necessary to understand that climate action is not a whim of the UN, activists or anyone else, it is a necessary survival measure for all of us,” – comments Olha Boiko, coordinator of CAN EECCA.
The Verkhovna Rada has eliminated inconsistencies in the text of the adopted law on de-oligarchization (bill No. 5599).
Thus, the majority of deputies at the plenary session on Wednesday supported the elimination of inconsistencies in Articles 5, 7 and Article 9 of the law.
According to the proposals published in the comparative table on the website of the parliament and for which the deputies voted, the body that makes the decision on recognizing a person as an oligarch is the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC). At the same time, the NSDC is also authorized to exclude a person from the relevant register.
In addition, the Rada supported the proposal of first Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Korniyenko that the bill should be signed by chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk.
As reported, on September 23 the parliament adopted at the second reading the presidential bill on prevention of threats to national security associated with the excessive influence of persons who have significant economic or political weight in public life (oligarchs) (No. 5599).
Later, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence appealed to the speaker with a request to re-vote the law on oligarchs No. 5599, adopted on September 23, in connection with a legal conflict that arose. As head of the Holos faction, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, explained, deputies simultaneously took into account three amendments (396, 398, 406), which contradict one another.
According to the 398th amendment, the decision on recognizing a person with significant economic or political weight in public life is made by the head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) after the appeal of the Commission on Counteracting the Excessive Influence of Persons with significant economic or political weight in public life.
At the same time, in the 406th amendment, the decision on recognizing a person as an oligarch is made by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the basis of a submission from the Cabinet of Ministers, a member of the NSDC, the National Bank, the Security Service or the Antimonopoly Committee.
The electronic minutes state that amendments 396 and 398 were not separately voted on for their support.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk, presiding over the plenary session on Thursday, when voting on amendment 406, did not name amendments 396 and 398 as automatically rejected.
Bill No. 5599 was considered at the second reading according to a special procedure and only 13 amendments were made, approved by the relevant committee (on national security issues). All other amendments were considered automatically rejected, which was reported by Stefanchuk every time a vote was taken.
Opponents of vaccination for COVID-19 are blocking traffic on Hrushevskoho Street and a number of other main streets in Kyiv adjacent to the area where the government is located on Wednesday.
Several hundred people are taking part in the protest, and none are wearing masks, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported from the site. The protesters demand lifting the quarantine restrictions and resuming regular classes in school, among other things, and they oppose the vaccine mandate.
The protesters began gathering near the Ukrainian parliament at 8:00 a.m., and more protesters are coming in.
Once traffic has been blocked, the protesters plan to hold a meeting near the building of the Verkhovna Rada.
Police are trying to persuade the protesters to unblock the streets for public transportation at the least.
