Metinvest currently has planned its investment program at the level of $1.3-1.5 billion per year over the next three to four years, further investments will depend on how the company develops green metallurgy, Metinvest Group CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in an interview with Metal Expert. According to him, the decarbonisation trend focuses on the steel industry. However, there are already well-studied low-carbon technologies, including direct reduced iron (DRI) in combination with electric arc furnaces (EAF). Metinvest’s efforts in decarbonization are related not only to climate, but also to renewal and entry into new markets (in terms of efficiency and product quality).
The updated technological strategy, which the company is continuing to develop, involves different scenarios, yet each of them includes the transition to low-carbon operations. As for CO2-related objectives, the company’s strategic goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90% by 2050, using a step-by-step approach with key milestones in 2030 and 2040. The final phases of the strategy are expected to include the use of hydrogen.
“In the meantime, today, unfortunately, there is still no method for producing cheap hydrogen in our country or anywhere else in the world. That is why we have set this timeframe, in the hope that a method will be found to produce cost-effective hydrogen,” the top manager said.
The plans are to increase efficiency and automate existing processes using DRI technology and electric arc furnace production at one of the factories: either in Zaporizhia or in Mariupol. Initially, it is possible to launch a new complex using natural gas.
“At the moment, we are still discussing its location, because we are not the only shareholder in Zaporizhstal, and, so far, we don’t see the willingness of the other party to participate in the development of the plant. So, there is still a ‘fork in the road’ as to whether Zaporizhstal should be an electric steelmaking plant or a cast-iron mill,” Ryzhenkov said.
According to him, for assets in Zaporizhia and Mariupol, they have already sent out requests for technical and commercial offers to major equipment producers and they are waiting for the results. “I think we will complete the feasibility study in the first half of 2022, and probably, by the end of the year, we will need to make a decision about the site where we will build the first facility,” Ryzhenkov said.
At the same time, conventional technologies, in his opinion, will remain, since it is unrealistic to immediately switch to a completely new production cycle and new technologies. “Even in Europe, from what we see of the plans of our peers, there is a gradual transition, and conventional technologies will remain in place for quite a long time – until 2040-45. But we should not forget that steelmakers in Europe will receive government support and financial incentives to introduce new technologies, while in Ukraine, we are trying to involve the state in this issue, but we have yet to receive any support. Therefore, it will be more difficult for us to achieve this goal,” the top manager said.
The Group is working to improve the quality of its raw materials, both iron ore and coke, thereby increasing the efficiency of the blast furnaces. In addition, by improving the quality of iron ore products, the company is preparing its raw material base for the next step: DRI.
According to the CEO, in 2021, Metinvest recalculated its Scope 1 emissions according to the new Ukrainian methodology, which was recently brought in line with the European approach. In 2020, direct greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) within the IFRS perimeter (i.e., excluding associates and joint ventures) amounted to 23.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. In addition, the Group has calculated indirect greenhouse gas emissions for the first time (Scope 2). For 2020, they amounted to 2.7 million tonnes. The intensity of direct greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 from the Mariupol site was 2.4 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel produced.
“If we talk about the short-term outlook, our main investments will be directed at the production of high-quality raw materials at Northern Mining that can, in turn, be used further in green metallurgy, and they are estimated at almost $1 billion,” the CEO said, adding that one DRI module in combination with an EAF and casting costs at least EUR 1 billion. For the construction of a plant with a capacity of 4-4.5 million tonnes of electric steel, at least EUR 2 billion will be required.
“In order to change the technology completely, the estimated costs will be about $15-20 billion over the next decade. Here we need government support. But, today, there are not decarbonization programmes, or even any progress on developing them, in Ukraine. We aim to encourage the government to move in this direction,” the top manager said.
“We are now completing the calculations for the decarbonization roadmap and, I suppose, we will make it public in spring 2022. By the end of 2022, we expect to finalize our technological strategy… By 2050, we expect that our sinter production will be completely decommissioned, and we will switch to DRI with electric steel. By 2040, we intend, to a large extent, to substitute the old capacity with electric steel, but some will still remain in place,” Ryzhenkov said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted the provision on the organizational and technical model of cybersecurity developed by the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, according to the service’s website. The organizational and technical model of cybersecurity is a set of measures, subjects and actions aimed at developing the capabilities of the national cybersecurity system in prompt response to cyberattacks and cyber incidents. This model creates conditions for minimizing possible negative consequences for information and communication systems.
“The organizational and technical model of cybersecurity not only denotes complex framework and different levels of infrastructure for protecting the country in cyberspace, but also at the sub-legal level defines the main stages of responding to cyber incidents. Both government agencies and the corporate sector and citizens will be involved in the development of this model,” Head of the State Special Communications Service Yuriy Schyhol said.
Such an integrated approach should increase the effectiveness of the national cybersecurity system and, in particular, allows both enterprises and government agencies to develop, implement and continually improve structurally identical and adapted to their own needs and capabilities plans for responding to cyber incidents and cyberattacks.
The organizational and technical model assumes three levels of integrated cyber defense infrastructures:organizational and managerial (the main subjects of the national cybersecurity system); technological (interaction of technological units: information exchange, monitoring, ensuring sustainable cyberspace security) and basic (secure information infrastructure and society).
The organizational and technical model of cybersecurity is aimed, inter alia, at reducing the vulnerability of information and communication systems and ensuring their cyber resilience; creating conditions for the development of public-private partnerships in cybersecurity; and also on the creation of an effective system of national response to cyber incidents, in particular on the development of industry response teams, synchronization and coordination of their actions. The State Special Communications Service said the introduction of an organizational and technical model of cybersecurity determines responsibility for the implementation of specific tasks of each subject of cybersecurity and makes it possible to form an effective system of resource support, including personnel.
Pivdenny Mining and Processing Plant (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2021 increased output of iron ore concentrate by 6.1% compared to the previous year, to 13.582 million tonnes.
According to the company’s official information, in December 2021 the plant produced 1.318 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate, which is 23.9% more than in the same period of 2020.
Earlier, CEO of Pivdenny Mining Kostiantyn Fedin said in his New Year’s greetings that the plant had reached such a production indicator for the first time in the last 30 years.
Pivdenny Mining and Processing Plant is one of the main producers of iron ore raw materials in Ukraine – concentrate. It is engaged in mining and processing of ferruginous quartzites to obtain iron ore concentrate.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has updated the requirements for confirming the sources of the formation of subordinated debt, financial assistance from shareholders and capital instrument with the terms of write-off/conversion, the NBU press service said on Tuesday.
According to the report, the right of the regulator to establish requirements for the sources of regulatory capital is provided for by amendments to Article 30 of the law on banks and banking activities. The changes approved by NBU Resolution No. 159 dated December 29, 2021 come into force on January 5.
In particular, banks, to include components in the regulatory capital, shall submit documents confirming the sources of their formation, taking into account the requirements of the regulation on licensing of banks, the NBU said in the press release.
In addition, the requirements for the interest rate, at which funds will be attracted on the terms of subordinated debt, have been updated, in particular, the bank will justify its size, the NBU said.
In 2021, Ukrainian cities purchased 170 trolleybuses (including only three used ones), which is almost half as many as in 2020, when 337 vehicles were purchased (including five used ones), AllTransUA reported on Facebook.
According to a report, such a drop in sales may be due to the fact that in 2021 it was mainly the completion of deliveries of 2020 (as part of the trolleybus fleet renewal programs financed by international financial institutions), and new supplies to Kherson and Mykolaiv began only at the end of the year, as well as, in general, the completion of the first wave of EBRD and EIB loan programs.
Kharkiv was the leader in the purchase of trolleybuses, which, in addition to Bogdan T701 trolleybuses under loan programs of IFIs, received leased trolleybuses PTS-12 of the Brovary-based manufacturer Polytechnoservice (in Belarusian bodies MAZ-203) – a total of 59 trolleybuses. This is followed by Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zhytomyr, and Lutsk, which bought trolleybuses at the expense of IFIs.
In the structure of financing, purchases at the expense of IFI programs accounted for 68% of cars, and leasing was used only in Kharkiv and amounted to 22%. Budget purchases amounted to only 9% – this year, only Chernihiv (Etalon T12110) and Vinnytsia (PTS-12 with additional assembly at the facilities of the city public transport operator) bought trolleybuses for funds from local budgets.
In addition, for the first time, funding from the state budget was used – at its expense, three Dnipro T203 trolleybuses (in Belarusian bodies) were purchased for Severodonetsk.
In the structure of the supply of new trolleybuses, trolleybuses from Belarusian car sets – PTS-12 and Dnipro T203, assembled on the basis of MAZ and AKSM-321 (D) bodies, assembled at the BKM-Ukraine enterprise from car sets manufactured by Belkommunmash – continued to dominate (54%). Last year, the share of these vehicles was almost 70%.
Bogdan produced 71 trolleybuses (43%) – almost the same as in 2020, another 2% of all sales were for Etalon trolleybuses.
Three used Škoda 24Tr low-floor trolleybuses were delivered to Ternopil.
AllTransUA also analyzed the tram car market of last year, which, according to their data, did not become a turning point for this market (55 trams were delivered versus 39 a year earlier), having continued the trends of the last few years, when some cities bought used equipment, some built new cars using bodies and old bogies, and some bought a small number of modern wagons.
“This year, for the first time in several years, we have in statistics a significant number of new cars [14 units] – thanks to the supply of Polish Pesa cars, Ukrainian Electron and Tatra-Yug cars to Kyiv and Electron cars – to Lviv. Pesa cars and one Electron car were delivered to Kyiv as part of the 2020 contracts for budget funds, and Tatra-Yug cars to Kyiv and Electron cars to Lviv are supplied as part of IFI loan programs,” the report says.
As reported, 20 Tatra-Yug cars will be delivered to Kyiv under the contract (of which three were delivered this year), and 10 Electron cars will be delivered to Lviv (three were delivered).
AllTransUA notes that this year the statistics of deliveries of new trams can significantly improve due to the receipt of the remaining cars in Kyiv and Lviv, as well as supplies to Dnipro (at the expense of the regional budget) and Kryvy Rih (at the expense of IFIs), and the long-awaited promotion of car purchases for Odesa with IFI funding.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has announced that he will now lead the national security council, which was previously led by former head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“As the head of state and, from this day, as chairman of the Security Council I intend to take maximally tough action,” Tokayev said in a statement broadcast on the state television channel Khabar 24 on Wednesday.
Rallies against a sharp rise in liquefied gas prices first started in Zhanaozen, a city in the Mangistau region in western Kazakhstan, on January 2, then escalating into mass protests with economic and political demands across the country. Clashes between protesters and the police occurred in Almaty on January 4.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree early on Wednesday morning, introducing a state of emergency and a curfew, from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., in Almaty and the Mangistau and Almaty region until January 19.
The Kazakh government resigned in the early hours of Wednesday as well.
