Direct budgetary funding for Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) in 2023 will amount to UAH 5 billion, of which UAH 3.5 billion has already been allocated over 10 months, and the government provides state guarantees for another UAH 6 billion for loans that the company takes out from international financial institutions, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has reported.
In particular, according to the Ministry of Finance, it is UAH 3.9 billion from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and UAH 2.1 billion from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
It is specified that out of the UAH 3.5 billion already allocated this year, almost UAH 3 billion has been allocated for the purchase of new passenger railcars, including the completion of payment for 100 passenger railcars ordered in 2021 and 44 railcars in 2023.
“The prepayment for the purchase of 44 new passenger cars was made on October 28 this year, including the supply of 9 new reserved seats. These will be the first new second-class cars purchased over the past 15 years and the first Ukrainian-made second-class cars,” Deputy Finance Minister Oleksandr Kava said in a release. He recalled that Russian second-class cars were previously purchased.
According to the Ministry of Finance, work is also underway to implement international projects aimed at restoring railway infrastructure: attracting a loan from the EBRD of up to EUR 200 million under the Emergency Support to Ukrainian Railways Project, a $25 million World Bank grant under the Restoration of Critical Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (RELINC) project, a EUR 37.6 million loan from France, and grant assistance from Switzerland for CHF 14 million.
As reported, this fall UZ signed a contract with Kryukiv Carriage Works (KVSZ, Poltava region) for the manufacture of 44 passenger railcars for UAH 1.951 billion with delivery by December 31, 2025.
By the spring of 2023, KVSZ had completed fulfilling Ukrzaliznytsia’s order for 100 passenger railcars under the contract signed in 2021 for more than UAH 3 billion, but pointed to late payment.
The farms of KSG Agro have completed the sunflower harvesting campaign on an area of 7,360 hectares with a yield of 24 c/ha, the press service of the agricultural holding reported.
“The results of the harvesting campaign are positive for us, thanks to weather conditions with sufficient rainfall. We predicted a final yield of 23-25 cwt/ha, but in fact we got 24 cwt/ha. This year’s harvesting campaign was delayed because we partially used seeds with a late maturity. We should also mention the results of Apostolivske branch, which for the first time since it joined the holding achieved high sunflower yields of 24.5 c/ha,” said Dmytro Emelchenko, Head of the company’s crop production division, as quoted in the press release.
According to him, in parallel with the sunflower harvesting campaign, the holding’s farms sowed winter wheat on an area of 2 thou hectares and rapeseed on an area of 1.5 thou hectares.
“The peculiarity of this year’s winter crops was that due to weather conditions we sowed almost dry. Nevertheless, the seedlings received at the end of October are in satisfactory good condition,” said Mr. Yemelchenko.
KSG Agro, a vertically integrated holding company, is engaged in pig production, as well as the production, storage, processing and sale of grains and oilseeds. Its land bank is about 21 thousand hectares in Dnipropetrovska and Kherson regions.
According to the agricultural holding, it is one of the top 5 pork producers in Ukraine.
Last year, due to the full-scale war launched by Russia, KSG Agro ended with a net loss of $1.68 million compared to $17.71 million in net profit in 2021, its EBITDA decreased 5.5 times to $1.79 million, and revenue decreased by 47.3% to $16.2 million.
In the first quarter of 2023, the agricultural holding earned $1.53 million in net profit, which is 17% less than in the same period last year. Its EBITDA increased by 23% to $1.87 million and revenue by 45% to $5.12 million.
Oil prices are falling on Tuesday after a slight rise in the previous session amid decisions by Saudi Arabia and Russia to extend voluntary production cuts.
The cost of January futures for Brent crude oil on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:10 a.m. on Tuesday amounted to $84.77 per barrel, which is $0.41 (0.48%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Monday, the price of these contracts rose by $0.29 (0.3%) to $85.18 per barrel.
December futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.36 (0.45%) to $80.46 per barrel by this time. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $0.31 (0.4%) to $80.82 per barrel.
The market is under pressure from fears of a weakening global economy and, consequently, oil demand. “Weak economic expectations are holding back the oil market and justifying the position of OPEC+ countries limiting production,” OANDA analyst Craig Earlam said, as quoted by Market Watch.
Last weekend, it became known that Saudi Arabia decided not to change the volume of voluntary oil production cuts and will keep it at 1 million bpd until the end of 2023.
In December, Riyadh may review the parameters of the restrictions to make a decision either to deepen the reduction or to increase production, the Saudi state agency reported on Sunday, citing an official source in the country’s Energy Ministry.
Saudi state-owned Saudi Aramco said on Monday that it will keep the price of the main grade of oil supplied to Asia, Arab Light, unchanged in December. The price of this grade for Asian buyers has been rising for five months in a row.
The Russian Federation will extend until the end of December 2023 an additional voluntary reduction in the supply of oil and oil products to world markets by 300 thousand barrels per day, which came into effect in September and October 2023.
The goal: to attract private investment for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Participants will discuss the most important issues facing investors in Ukraine, outline investment achievements in 2023, and define plans for the next year.
The event will take place offline, as part of the largest exhibition for the reconstruction of Ukraine, ReBuild Ukraine. Anyone wishing to invest in Ukraine and participate in its reconstruction will receive the most up-to-date analytical data, information on available investment incentives, successful investment cases, regulatory changes, practical aspects of project implementation, and investment projects in the development of UkraineInvest.
The annual forum will bring together high-level representatives of government and business, investment agencies, international organizations, and financial institutions. Speakers will include government officials, representatives of BlackRock, DFC, EBRD, CSIS, Kingspan, Kovalska, Bayer, and others. The event is expected to be attended by 500 international delegates.
The forum will include an award ceremony for representatives of the government, business and international organizations that have contributed to the development and support of Ukraine’s economy.
Program of the event
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E-mail: nazarii.volianskyi@ukraineinvest.gov.ua; tel. +38063-023-11-93
PJSC UkrGasVydobuvannya (UGV) has drilled two high-yield wells, exploration and production wells, with a total daily production capacity of 0.5 million cubic meters.
“One of them is an exploration well at a recently discovered field, the other is a production well at a field that is more than 50 years old,” the company said on its website on Monday.
According to UGV, the drilling location of the exploration well was determined thanks to earlier 3D seismic surveys. The second well is a production well drilled at the “old” field, which has deposits with high residual potential but is characterized by a complicated geological structure.
“The results of drilling this well made it possible to increase gas production relative to the field by 156 thousand cubic meters, as well as to clarify the geological structure of the field and outline further plans for drilling the following wells,” UGV said.
Both wells were drilled by specialists of Ukrburgaz, a branch of Ukrgasvydobuvannya.
“We continue to work with both new and old fields and see that our approaches are effective: these are not the first successful high-rate wells in these fields that add a significant plus to the company’s overall production,” the website quotes Oleh Tolmachov, Acting CEO of Ukrgasvydobuvannya, as saying.
The company aims to increase natural gas production by 1 billion cubic meters in 2023, up to 13.5 billion cubic meters. In 2022, UGV produced 12.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas (commercial), which is 3% less than in 2021.
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine owns 100% of Ukrgasvydobuvannya shares.
