Prices for benchmark crude oil are rising slightly on Tuesday morning, with quotes ending the previous session virtually unchanged.
The price of May futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange by 7:08 a.m. is $82.43 per barrel, which is $0.22 (0.27%) higher than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, these contracts increased in price by 13 cents to $82.21 per barrel.
Quotes for WTI futures for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.13 (0.17%) to $78.06 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, the contract fell by 8 cents to $77.93 per barrel.
Market participants are awaiting the release of inflation data in the United States on Tuesday, as well as the publication of monthly reports by OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA).
In addition, traders are monitoring the compliance of OPEC+ countries with their voluntary commitments to reduce supplies, as well as the level of production in the United States, which has been near record levels since the end of January.
“OPEC and the U.S. Department of Energy are sending mixed signals, and in order for the market to clearly determine the direction of movement,” they need to come to the same conclusion, said Charu Chanana, an analyst at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore.
According to preliminary data, Ukrnaftoburinnya (UNB) will receive more than UAH 1 billion in net profit in 2023, the company said in a press release on Monday.
“We planned a net profit of up to UAH 1.5 billion. But due to the revocation of the special permit and the shutdown, this figure will fall to about UAH 1.1 billion,” said Oleg Malchyk, chairman of the board, quoted in the document.
According to him, from the beginning of 2023 until the company was actually taken over by Ukrnafta on July 12 last year, UNB’s profit amounted to UAH 186 million, and for the period from July to December, it managed to make a profit of UAH 905 million.
“This is taking into account the fact that the company did not produce throughout December last year,” the company said.
According to UNB, despite the fact that the company was profitable before the transition to state control, the audit of the financial statements found UAH 18 billion of receivables that had signs of being uncollectible.
“This is either prepayment for some goods or financial assistance,” commented Malchyk.
The PJSC explained that bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against some companies that owe almost UAH 5 billion to UNB in June 2023. However, the new management managed to file applications for recognition of monetary claims, and such claims were recognized by the court, as a result of which UNB was included in the list of creditors of those companies in bankruptcy.
As reported, on November 28, 2023, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal (CAAC) overturned the order of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil (Derzhgeonadra) and revoked the special permit No. 6349 of July 10, 2019, under which UNB was producing at the Sakhalin field. The company stopped operating the field on December 1.
For its part, on February 9, 2024, the Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC) ordered the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources to reconsider UNB’s application for a special permit for production at the Sakhalin field. On February 27, the court document came into force. However, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil filed an appeal against the ruling of the Kyiv District Administrative Court (KDAC).
“Ukrnaftoburinnya is one of the largest private gas producers in Ukraine. Since 2010, it has been developing the Sakhalin oil and gas condensate field (Krasnokutskyi district, Kharkiv region) with reserves of 15 bcm of gas. The company’s gross production in 2021 amounted to 691.3 million cubic meters of gas and 76.6 thousand tons of oil and condensate.
Ukraine’s public debt to GDP ratio from 2009 to 2023 (UAH mln)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
State-owned Ukreximbank has announced a competition for the position of Chairman of the Board, which has been held by Serhiy Yermakov since October 2021, according to a statement on the financial institution’s website on Monday.
“According to the decision of the Supervisory Board, a competitive selection for the position of Chairman of the Board of JSC State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine is announced,” the information says.
According to it, the submission of documents for the vacant position will begin on Monday and will last until April 1, and from April 2 to April 22, the recruitment company Telent Advisors LLC (Odgers Berndtson) will analyze the candidates and select the five most suitable ones who will be admitted to the next stage of the competitive selection.
From April 23 to 29, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Supervisory Board of the state-owned bank, together with Telent Advisors, will interview them and select three to five people for the final interviews with Ukrexim’s Supervisory Board, scheduled for April 30 to May 6.
“The discredited Sergiy Yermakov continues to work until the new CEO takes office, the Supervisory Board is fully satisfied with the cooperation with Sergiy, but there are life circumstances that do not depend on the will of people…”, commented Victoria Strakhova, a member of the Supervisory Board of the financial institution, on Facebook.
As reported, on October 6, 2021, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank suspended the Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metzger for the period of investigation of the attack on journalists of the Schemes program, and on October 11 dismissed the Chairman at his own request. Board member Serhiy Yermakov was appointed acting chairman of the bank.
Then Ukreximbank signed an agreement with the recruiting company Korn Ferry (USA) and in mid-December 2021 announced a competition for the chairman of the board, but after the outbreak of war it refused to hold it, and in the spring of 2022, after approval by the NBU, Yermakov became chairman of the board.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of February 1, 2024, Ukreximbank ranked 3rd (UAH 274.65 billion) among 63 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.
Components of residential and commercial real estate maintenance services in Ukraine have gone up to 20% since the beginning of the war, said Ivan Petyukh, head of R-Class integrated real estate management platform.
“Consumables have risen in price by up to 20%, the cost of maintenance of engineering systems (by licensed third-party companies) by an estimated 10%,” he said.
The main challenges facing the R-Class in 2022-23 include. Petyukh singled out unforeseen disruptions in the supply of electricity, heat and water. In this regard, he said, the company is paying systematic attention to improving energy efficiency and energy independence. In addition to insulation of facades, R-Class specialists ensured and organized uninterrupted power supply of the objects by means of redundancy of electric capacities from different connection lines from the city, installation of additional diesel generators (capacity from 15 to 160 kW), installation of uninterrupted power supply sources (capacity from 12 kW); implemented a backup water supply/water drainage system.
The head of R-Class also noted that the introduction of the latest technologies helps to optimize utility costs and increase the service life of buildings. According to him, automated heat consumption systems that distribute the heat carrier depending on the current demands of the consumer and the outside air temperature, air recovery system, automatic gas analysis system in the parking premises that switches on/off the supply and exhaust ventilation depending on the air pollution, the latest air conditioning systems (VRV systems) that allow heating the premises at the outside temperature down to -15 in addition to the conventional water system allow saving energy resources.
R-Class’ integrated real estate management and development platform, which has been operating on the market since 2008, serves more than 300 thousand square meters of real estate. Among the objects are BC HILLFORT, BC Mikhailovskaya 7, Residential Complex “Pokrovsky Posad”, Residential Complex “Nobel” and others.
Ukraine’s exports of goods in January-February 2024 increased by 4.6% y-o-y, from $6.5 billion to $6.8 billion, while imports decreased by 1%, from $10.1 billion to $10 billion, the State Customs Service reported on Friday.
According to its post on Telegram, in the first two months of 2024, trade turnover increased by 2% compared to two months of 2023, to $16.8 billion.
In January, the State Customs Service reported a 9.7% increase in exports from $3.1 billion to $3.4 billion and a 6.3% increase in imports from $4.8 billion to $5.1 billion. Taking into account these data, in February, exports remained at the level of February last year – $3.4 billion, while imports decreased by 7.5% to $4.9 billion.
The agency noted that taxable imports in January-February amounted to $8.8 billion, or 88% of total imports, and the tax burden per 1 kg was $0.47/kg, which is 5% more than in the same period in 2023.
According to the State Customs Service, the largest imports to Ukraine in the first two months of this year were from China – $2 billion, Poland – $1.1 billion, and Germany – $769 million.
Ukraine exported the most to Poland – $649 million, Spain – $624 million, and China – $504 million.
As stated in the report, 67% of the total volume of goods imported in January-February 2024 was machinery, equipment and transport – $3.5 billion (UAH 25.3 billion was paid to the budget during customs clearance, which is 31% of customs revenues), chemical products – $1.8 billion (UAH 12.8 billion was paid to the budget, or 16% of customs revenues) and fuel and energy products – $1.3 billion (UAH 20 billion was paid, or 24% of revenues).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine were food products – $4.5 billion, metals and metal products – $726 million, and mineral products – $587 million.
According to the report, in the first two months of 2024, UAH 47.96 million was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties.
