Transit of natural gas through the gas transmission system (GTS) of Ukraine in January-August 2020 amounted to 34.8 billion cubic meters., which is 42% less than in the same period in 2019 (59.6 billion cubic meters).
According to the report of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU), 32.4 billion cubic meters of gas were transported in the western direction (Slovakia – 23.9 billion cubic meters, Hungary – 5.9 billion cubic meters, Poland – 2.6 billion cubic meters), which is 36% less than in January-August-2019, in the trans-Balkan region – 2.3 billion cubic meters (Moldova – 1.87 billion cubic meters, Romania – 0.46 billion cubic meters), which is 73% less than last year in this direction.
Despite a significant drop in transit compared to last year, Gazprom (Russia) fully pays for the transit capacity booked for this year (178 million cubic meters per day), which it used by 80% in January-August.
“For its part, GTSOU fulfills all daily requests and will continue ensuring uninterrupted gas transportation to European countries in the future,” the company said.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a long-term loan of up to $81 million to Kryvyi Rih Industrial Gas LLC, a Joint Venture with majority ownership by Air Products & Chemicals Inc,. a company registered in the United States, and ArcelorMittal.
The decision was made by the EBRD board on Wednesday, EBRD Senior External Relations Advisor Anton Usov has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to a posting on the bank’s website, subject to the finalization of commercial agreements, the company will design, construct and operate an on-site air separation unit to be located in Kryvy Rih. The project will employ modern, state-of-the-art technology to safely and reliably produce industrial gases, for ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih steel works (Dnipropetrovsk region) and other customers in Ukraine and beyond.
The Project is expected to result in CO2 emission savings in excess of 60,000 tonnes per annum through energy efficiency gains of the steel works.
The total cost of the project is over $100 million.
The Ministry of Health is in negotiations with foreign companies regarding the purchase of vaccines against COVID-19 immediately after their registration, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said during the hour of questions to the government in the Verkhovna Rada.
“We are negotiating with AstraZeneca regarding the number of vaccines they will be ready to supply to us. It has already been decided that, if confirmed, we are ready to make an advance payment. In addition, we are negotiating with a Chinese manufacturer, which is also at the third stage of testing. Ukraine was accepted into the COVAX initiative on the distribution of vaccines – 20% of the population, about 8 million doses for our country. The process of signing the relevant agreements, memorandums is underway, so that after the registration of vaccines we could receive them. We also communicate with other companies,” he said.
In addition, the minister said that the Ministry of Health is increasing its capacity to combat the pandemic.
“Laboratory centers are provided with tests for about 1.5 months. The tests are purchased mainly from two Ukrainian manufacturers, they are also purchased at the expense of the World Bank. In five months, we resumed the work of laboratory centers (from four to 69), and increased the number of PCR tests per day from 200 to almost 25,000. The total number of tests made has already reached almost 1.7 million,” Stepanov said.
He also noted that the situation with the incidence of doctors with COVID-19 has changed: to date, the number of sick doctors has decreased by almost four times.
Almost all works were carried out manually, because it is impossible to use heavy equipment at the object, co-owner of the company Yevhen Konovalov told Interfax-Ukraine.
The new alleys were paved with uniform pattern granite tiles and new street light poles with modern LED lamps were installed, the company said.
The stairs, lecture center and art compositions were decorated with lighting.
Also, the retaining wall was reinforced. Benches were installed. New trees and shrubs were planted.
Automatic retractable poles were installed to limit access of vehicles to the alley. In addition, the runoff water system was replaced.
Peizazhna Alley is a landmark in central Kyiv. A view of Podil and the Dnipro River opens from the observation platform, which is located in the Upper City.
The alley was constructed in 1980. Sculptures, art installations and a square appeared there as time went on.
The facility requires an extensive overhaul. The second stage of the modernization starts in the near future and will be completed in 2021.
The project was carried out by Rostdorstroy LLC, a part of the RDS group of road construction companies, which won a tender worth UAH 110 million at the beginning of 2020.
RDS Group is included in the top three road construction companies of Ukraine. It includes Kyivshliakhbud and Rostdorstroy. The core business is construction, reconstruction and maintenance of roads and bridges, construction of airfield complexes.
As of July 2020, the company worked in nine regions of Ukraine and had ten production facilities. In particular, it was constructing concrete road N-14 Kropyvnytsky-Mykolaiv, a railway overpass road and a section of the first in Ukraine concrete road within the framework of the overhauls of highway N-31 Dnipro-Reshetylivka in Poltava region. In 2019, the company won a World Bank’s tender for works on first-category highway M-03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhansky.
The ultimate beneficial owners of RDS Group are Ukrainian citizens Yuriy Shumakher and Yevhen Konovalov.
KONOVALOV, KYIV, MODERNIZATION, PEIZAZHNA ALLEY, RDS, SHUMAKHER
The Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting on September 2 updated the principles of strategic reform of state-owned banks, which envisage reducing the state’s share in the banking sector from 60% to 25% by 2025 through partial or full privatization of each of the four state-owned banks.
According to the text of the corresponding document, posted on the website of the Ministry of Finance, the state plans to find a minority investor for Ukeximbank with potential privatization in the long term.
In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers kept plans for the state’s withdrawal from PrivatBank’s capital in the future, as well as for converting a loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank into additional capital of Ukrgasbank. In particular, it is planned that an agreement between the IFC and Ukrgasbank will be concluded by October 2020.
The principals of strategic reform of state banks also indicate that at the moment the state is creating all the necessary prerequisites to ensure the entry of international financial organizations into the capital of Oschadbank by the end of 2020, in particular in October 2020 the latter is planned to enter the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
According to the government’s expectations, the participation of international financial organizations in the capital of Oschadbank will lead to a major or full privatization of the bank by the end of 2025.
The corresponding document also specifies that preparations for the state’s withdrawal from the capital of the banks will begin after the end of the “coronavirus crisis” and the achievement of a stable economic recovery (GDP growth over two quarters), but no later than December 2021.