Corum Group (DTEK) has signed the first contract with Turkey’s leading coal mining company Imbat Madencilik for a pilot supply of KD90T 17.5/28 support sections, Corum said in a press release on Friday.
According to the statement, entering new markets is one of the key directions of the company, approved as part of the adopted development strategy until 2030, among which the goals are to arrange the supply of mining equipment to the markets of Turkey and India.
“Due to the mining and geological features, coal mining in Turkey is associated with other dangerous and complex challenges compared to Ukraine. Therefore, in the foreground are occupational safety and modern technological solutions, which is the focus of Corum Group equipment,” the press service said, citing Director of Corum Trading Oleh Nesterenko.
The supports are optimized for the client’s conditions, they will be manufactured by Corum Druzhkivka Machine Plant (Donetsk region), and the shipment is scheduled for this summer.
“Corum experts paid a lot of attention to the issues that arise with our current fleet of powered roof supports from Poland and China, and suggested solutions to the problems. Therefore, we decided to try and test Corum products,” General Manager of Imbat Madencilik Yavuz Burbut said.
The cost of the deal was not disclosed.
Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine, unites machine-building assets of DTEK Energy.
DTEK Energy received a net loss of UAH 327 million in January-March 2021, which is almost 23 times better than in the first quarter of 2020 and is mainly due to the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate.
According to the company’s report, positive exchange rate differences in January-March this year amounted to UAH 793 million against negative UAH 6.163 billion in January-March last year.
The company’s revenue for the reporting period increased by 12.8%, to UAH 14.42 billion.
The company explained that its growth was mainly due to an increase in the volume of electricity supply by 44% compared to the first quarter of 2020, when artificial restrictions for producers were in force.
DTEK is considering the possibility of expanding its oil and gas business in Ukraine, CEO of the company Maksym Timchenko has said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda edition.
“We are constantly studying the deposits of all available players on the market. That is, we are open to expanding our business, without exception, with all players, including state-owned companies. If there are such opportunities not only for acquisitions, but also for joint activities, some kind of joint projects in exploration and production, we are ready for this,” he said.
According to Timchenko, in particular, the assets of Geo Alliance group for DTEK are “a potential area of our interest.” At the same time, he did not comment on the details of the negotiations.
As reported, in 2020 DTEK Oil and Gas increased natural gas production by 10.8% (by 180 million cubic meters) compared to 2019, to 1.84 billion cubic meters. In 2021, the company plans to increase gas production to 2 billion cubic meters.
Geo Alliance produced 203 million cubic meters of gas in 2020.
Geo Alliance is under the mandate of the international investment and consulting group EastOne, which unites the assets of Victor Pinchuk. In 2012, EastOne announced a strategic partnership between Geo Alliance and Arawak Energy Ukraine BV, part of the Vitol group of companies, one of the largest operators in the world energy market.
DTEK Grids LLC on April 30, 2021 entered into an agreement for the sale and purchase of 24.5% of shares in PJSC Kirovohradoblenergo, which belongs to VS Group Management LLC from the VS Energy Group and related companies, and is considering the possibility of acquiring a controlling stake of shares of this enterprise upon approval of the relevant transaction by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
“DTEK continues developing its electricity distribution business. The company views it as promising and important for the transformation of the Ukrainian power market,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
Currently, the VS Energy group also includes Khersonoblenergo, Zhytomyroblenergo, Rivneoblenergo and Chernivtsioblenergo. In 2019 VS Energy sold Kyivoblenergo and Odesaoblenergo to the DTEK group.
In January, VS Energy announced a compulsory squeeze-out of Kirovohradoblenergo shares from minority shareholders, following the similar actions at Khersonoblenergo and Chernivtsioblenergo. According to the document, the highest price at which the applicant or persons affiliated with him acquired the issuer’s shares over the past 12 months was UAH 1.30. The market price of the Kirovohradoblenergo shares as of December 22, 2020, set by the appraiser of FC TITAN LLC, was UAH 1.26.
The total number of Kirovohradoblenergo shares is 119.376 million.
DTEK Grids said that it plans to implement a comprehensive program for the modernization of existing assets, as well as to carry out system automation and digitalization of power grid management in Kirovohradoblenergo, DTEK Grids CEO Ivan Geliukh said. According to him, this will improve the reliability of power supply, reduce losses and improve the quality of customer service in Kropyvnytsky and Kirovohrad regions.
According to the company, today, the market for supplying electricity to customers is completely competitive, the national regulator NEURC controls the work of distribution system operators, imposing an obligation on them to unconditionally provide access to the network infrastructure to any electricity supplier. “Thus, the concentration of new assets by DTEK complies with the legislation and the right of customers to have an opportunity of choosing who they buy electricity from in the market,” DTEK Grids said.
The company is developing a business for the distribution of electricity and the operation of power grids in Kyiv city and region, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa regions. Its enterprises service 5.4 million households and 150,000 enterprises.
In 2021, DTEK Energo intends to allocate UAH 2.3 billion for current, medium and overhaul repairs of power units of its TPPs, the press service of the company said.
“This will reduce the accident rate of equipment, which was observed in this heating season due to the very high load at TPPs, and ensure stable operation in the power system,” the company said.
In March, four power units out of 29 planned for 2021 have already entered scheduled repairs. The task of workers of repair enterprises and power engineers of Burshtynska, Dobrotvorska, Kurakhivska and Luhanska TPPs is to repair technological and electrical equipment, heating surfaces of boilers, on which fistulas often appear, and also to diagnose metal structures.
In the spring, DTEK Energo is planning another seven ongoing and one major overhaul at its TPPs.
According to DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev, due to the fact that the peak of the heating season in 2020/2021 has already passed, the load on the units has decreased and there is no need to work with a full set of equipment, the company has started a repair campaign to prepare for next winter.
“This winter has once again shown the need for shunting thermal generation by DTEK, which again lent a shoulder to the power system. The load of this heating season was 50% higher than the previous one, as well as, unfortunately, the accident rate. Due to the repair of the nuclear power plant, our stations worked with their full complement and promptly responded to the needs of the power system. If one power unit went into emergency repair, then we quickly compensated for the need by launching another,” he said.
At the same time, Saleev said that in order to stop the trend of accidents, it is necessary to stabilize the situation on the energy market, solve the problem of accumulated debts, and provide financial opportunities for generating facilities for repairs.
DTEK Energo is an operating company responsible for coal mining and power generation in the structure of the DTEK holding.
In January-February, DTEK lost UAH 1 billion in profit due to underproduction of electricity due to the coal shortage, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Utility Services Andriy Gerus (Servant of the People faction) said.
According to the MP, out of 777 million kWh of total electricity imports to Ukraine in January-February, DTEK could independently generate at least 500 million kWh, which required 250,000 tonnes of coal.
“Taking into account the premium electricity prices in January-February, this means a profit of at least UAH 250 million. However, this profit was not earned due to the coal shortage,” Gerus said.
In January-February, DTEK actually suspended exports of electricity to the EU, which meant an underproduction of another 800 million kWh (for which 400,000 tonnes of coal were needed), and it is a shortfall of about another UAH 800 million, Gerus said.
“Thus, in order to produce the necessary electricity for the needs of Ukraine and for export, DTEK needed 650,000 tonnes of coal. We remind you that the company’s accounts in December had UAH 1.6 billion, which is the equivalent 800,000 tonnes of coal. In fact, the company lost about UAH 1 billion in profit, which it could have received in January-February, the market provided such opportunities,” the head of the parliamentary committee said.
As reported, the National Commission on State Regulation in Energy and Utilities (NEURC) at a meeting on March 10 fined DTEK Zakhidenergo, DTEK Dniproenergo and DTEK Skhidenergo for UAH 1.7 million each for failure to provide the guaranteed coal reserves at thermal power plants (TPPs) in winter, as well as untimely informing the Energy Ministry, NEURC and NPC Ukrenergo about a critical situation with fuel.
