Ukraine reduced gas stocks in underground storage facilities 4.7% or by 1.022 billion cubic meters (bcm), to 20.761 bcm between November 1 and 30, according to preliminary data from gas infrastructure operator JSC Ukrtransgaz.
According to Interfax-Ukraine’s calculations, the gas stocks on November 30 were 28.7% higher than on the same date last year, 28.8% higher than on November 30, 2017 and 53.1% higher than on November 30, 2016.
Gas withdrawals from underground storage facilities totaled 48.65 million cubic meters on November. Ukraine imported 17.49 mcm and produced 56.33 mcm of gas that day.
One of Ukrainian banks and the large Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel signed a first non-deliverable forward (NDF) contract in the history of Ukraine last week, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
“This is the first transaction to hedge currency risks of this type in the Ukrainian market. Earlier, deliverable forward contracts were also concluded in the market, but their share is still insignificant and has great potential for growth,” the regulator said in a statement last week.
NBU Deputy Governor Oleh Churiy said that in the world on the foreign exchange market spot transactions, that is, those that are actually settled on the same day, make up no more than a third of the total foreign exchange market.
“The rest are transactions using hedging instruments: forwards, futures, swaps. Unfortunately, in Ukraine it is the opposite: spot transactions dominate, and cases of hedging currency risks by the business are still isolated,” Churiy said.
According to him, with a floating exchange rate, business owners and financial directors should pay attention to hedging tools that are already available in Ukraine. These are, in particular, deliverable and non-deliverable forward contracts, which can be concluded with banks for export-import operations or loans from nonresidents.
“For four years now, Ukraine has been living in a flexible exchange rate environment that avoids the accumulation of imbalances in the economy, but also requires prudent planning for the business,” the NBU deputy governor said.
DTEK Energy in January-September 2019 increased its net profit by 85.4% (UAH 2.899 billion) compared to the same period last year, to UAH 6.294 billion, the report on the company’s website said.
DTEK Energy’s revenue for the nine months decreased by 39.7% (by UAH 47.523 billion), to UAH 72.289 billion, gross profit by 17.7% (by UAH 2.551 billion), to UAH 11.873 billion.
For the nine months, the company invested UAH 4.2 billion in production, and paid UAH 11.6 billion in taxes to the budgets of all levels.
The company told Interfax-Ukraine that profit growth against the background of a decrease in income is associated with the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate, due to which net profit was received.
“In total, net profit amounted to UAH 6.3 billion, which corresponds to the indicator of exchange rate differences, which are not a monetary operation. Thus, the company’s production activity did not show a positive financial result. This is due to the development of the regulatory system for a new model of the electricity market, which today offers great preferences to foreign manufacturers,” DTEK said.
On December, 7 and 8 Ancient Kyiv in the Principality of Kyivan Rus («Kyivan Rus Park») invites to join the thrilling St. Andrew’s evening and spend the weekend in the magical atmosphere of antiquity. Tasty dishes prepared on open fire, warm tavern, ancient fortune telling and rites, walks on a horseback, museums and expositions, and even more will be waiting for the guests in a real, live medieval city.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program starts at 13:30 and lasts till 18:00.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket – 190.00 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150.00 UAH; for schoolchildren – 80.00 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
Ancient Kyiv in the «Kyivan Rus Park» is situated in the vill. Kopachiv, Obukhiv district, Kyiv region. Route taxis leave from Kyiv from the «Vydybitchi» metro station.
Detailed information on the website www.parkkyivrus.com
The Interfax subscribers can save money with the “openbusiness-20” promo code for a 20%-discount for the adult ticket (at full price) to the Principality of Kyivan Rus:
– by previous order by tel.: +38 044 461-99-37, +38 050 385-20-35
– or at the cash desk at the entrance to the «Kyivan Rus Park».
Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Francesco La Camera said at the opening of the tenth International Renewable Energy Investment Forum that IRENA is committed to support Ukraine in this sphere, the press service of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine has reported.
“To diversify energy is quite realistic. We are ready to continue supporting Ukraine along this path,” La Camera said.
According to him, in particular, IRENA experts advised Ukraine in developing the legislative framework for auctions. As the experience of various countries of the world shows, auctions are an effective tool to reduce the cost of electricity generated by renewable facilities.
La Camera said that the world is increasing the pace of transition to “clean” energy: “Over the past seven years, we have seen an annual increase in the volume of new clean energy capacities that exceed the capacities of conventional energy. In 2018, 170 GW of new “green” energy projects were introduced in the world,” he said.
“At the same time, clean technologies are becoming cheaper. According to experts, in the future, solar power plants and wind farms will become more profitable sources of electricity than conventional energy facilities,” La Camera added.
In addition, IRENA experts analyzed the development status of renewable energy in the countries of Southeast Europe. It is reported that the region operates 127 GW of capacities that generate “clean” energy. By 2030, these figures can be increased by almost five times and reach 620 GW.
During the forum, the IRENA director-general met with Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk. The parties discussed the investment attractiveness of renewable energy and plans for further development in the country.
La Camera recalled that “green” projects have many advantages and simultaneously address the energy, environmental, economic and social issues of communities.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved a resolution on qualified providers of electronic trust services placed on the trust list under a proposal of the certificate authority, the NBU has reported on its website. According to the report, this document was drawn up with the aim of improving the quality, convenience and speed of customer service by banks, as well as to ensure compliance of the processes of providing electronic trust services with European and international standards. The resolution establishes the conditions for obtaining the status of a qualified provider and determines the requirements for the rules of its work, the composition of employees of the qualified provider and their functional responsibilities, as well as the requirements for managing access to information resources of the qualified provider. In addition, the document defines the requirements for the physical environment used by the qualified provider in the process of providing qualified electronic trust services and for ensuring the continuity of services provided by the qualified provider, as well as for managing keys of the qualified provider and using cryptographic information protection tools.
The new internal regulations of the certification center in order to bring the conditions of its activities in line with the requirements of the law on electronic trust services are outlined in the document. The document defines a list of qualified electronic trust services, the provision of which is provided by a certification center; organizational structure of the certification center; the procedure for entering of information/changes about providers into the trust list; certificate policy for the provision of qualified electronic trust services by the certification center; position of certification practices during the provision of a certified electronic trust service by a certification center.
The National Bank also canceled irrelevant legal acts regulating the activities of the NBU certification center and bank key certification centers in accordance with the terms defined in the law on electronic digital signature. The changes are outlined in NBU No. 137 resolution dated November 21, 2019 on the recognition of certain legal acts of the National Bank of Ukraine as invalid.
