U.S. Trident Acquisitions Corp., which submitted one of the four bids in a tender to develop the Dolphin section on the Black Sea shelf under a product sharing agreement (PSA), has said that the company is ready to invest $1 billion. “We proposed investment in the amount of $1 billion to Ukraine, the start of production in three and a half years if the reserves are discovered and the most experienced offshore fields development team,” Trident Acquisitions CEO, former Deputy of the State Duma of Russia Ilya Ponomarev, who became the Ukrainian citizen under a decree of Petro Poroshenko in May, wrote on his Facebook page.
“We see what rivals would say, we are keeping our fingers crossed and looking forward for [the results],” he said.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on April 12 announced a tender to develop the Dolphin Black Sea shelf section under the PSA. The term of the PSA is 50 years. The winner of the tender must provide a geological survey of the subsoil at the site, including the drilling of at least five wells during the first stage (five years) of geological exploration. The minimum investment that must be made in this period will be determined by the results of the tender, but must be at least UAH 1.5 billion.
The initiative to develop the Dolphin section belonged to another U.S. company, Frontera Resources Corporation, which also applied its bid for the tender.
Two other participants are Caspian Drilling International Ltd, a state-owned oil company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), and Ukrnaftoburinnia, one of the largest private gas producing companies in Ukraine.
Ukrainian enterprises increased imports of copper and copper products in terms of money by 22.2% in January-May 2019 compared with January-May 2018, to $43.232 million. Exports of copper and copper products decreased 47.5% over the year to $39.288 million, according to customs statistics released by the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.
In May, copper and copper products were imported to the tune of $7.22 million, and copper exports were estimated at $10.171 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-May 2019 increased imports of nickel and products made of it by 0.4%, to $39.061 million (imports in May were estimated at $8.952 million), while imports of aluminum and products made of it increased 10.8%, to $159.035 million ($36.524 million). Imports of, lead and products made of it rose by 23.8%, to $5.289 million ($1.039 million) and imports of tin and products made of it decreased 33.5%, to $1.42 ($0.403 million). Imports of zinc and zinc goods decreased 30.5%, to $26.458 million ($6.775 million).
Exports of aluminum and products made of it decreased 29% in January-May 2019, to $41.995 million ($10.135 million in May alone), while shipments of lead abroad decreased 32%, to $10.949 million ($3.112 million). Exports of nickel fell by 20.1%, to $2.519 million ($0.847 million in May).
Zinc exports in January-May 2019 amounted to $0.332 million (some $0.101 million in May) compared to $0.061 million in January-May 2018.
Exports of tin and products made of it in January-May 2019 were estimated at $0.027 million (some $0.004 million in May) compared to $0.268 million in January-May 2018.
National bank of ukraine’s official rates as of 13/06/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of june 13
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The volume of reinsurance of risks by Ukrainian insurers in Austria in January-March 2019 tripled to UAH 168.5 million and accounted for 21.5% of the total reinsurance abroad, according to the website of the National Commission for the State Regulation of the Financial Services Market.
According to the regulator, reinsurance in Switzerland decreased by 4.9 times, to UAH 54.1 million. The reduction of Switzerland’s share in the total reinsurance of Ukrainian risks abroad decreased to 6.9% in Q1, 2019 from 31.3% in Q1, 2018.
The share of reinsurance in Germany increased from 13.9% to 21.3% (UAH 167.6 million), Great Britain from 15.5% to 18.4% (UAH 144.8 million), in Poland decreased from 11.5% to 10.2% (UAH 79.9 million), France increased from 3.4% to 5.4% (UAH 42.5 million).
According to the regulator, outgoing reinsurance operations in the first quarter of 2019 rose by 2.2%, to UAH 4.433 billion due to the increase in domestic reinsurance by 4.5%, to UAH 3.658 billion. At the same time, reinsurance of non-residents declined by 7.6%, to UAH 785 million.
The Greek energy company Flow Energy & Environmental Operations S.A. is interested in Ukrainian electronic oil and gas auctions and is ready to invest up to EUR 1.2 million in hydrocarbon deposits, Ukraine’s State Service of Geology and Subsoil has reported.
According to the service, the energy company got acquainted with the primary and secondary geological information on five fields, auctions for which are scheduled for June 18.
“Our company intends to take part in the next auction. Despite the fact that we are a small company, we are interested in five oil and gas deposits with a total cost of more than EUR 1 million. I hope that this is only the beginning and we will be active participants in the Ukrainian energy market,” the press service said citing the president of the Greek company, Tereza Fokianou.
The service noted the low level of participation of foreign companies in oil and gas auctions, but said they were working to attract foreign investors.
