During the preparation for the heating season, Ukraine’s gas storage facilities have already accumulated 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas, and by the beginning of the autumn-winter period, it is planned to reach the figure of 14.7 billion cubic meters, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.
The Department of Communications of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers said on July 21 that he said this after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction, Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Oleksandr Kubrakov, Head of NJSC Naftogaz Oleksiy Chernyshev, representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance.
At the meeting, issues of repairs, accumulation of fuel resources, and safety of thermal power facilities were discussed. Reports were heard from the Ministry of Infrastructure and NJSC Naftogaz on the plan for the preparation of thermal power plants for the autumn-winter period 2023/2024 and on the state of implementation of this plan for CHPPs, boiler houses, and thermal power plants.
“As the Ministry of Infrastructure reported, each enterprise has its own equipment repair plan, they are being implemented under the schedules. Those responsible for their observance have been identified. The state of readiness of housing and municipal services facilities has been considered. At the start of the heating season, they should reach 100%. This guarantees a stable winter,” Shmyhal said.
The prime minister also announced an instruction to ensure the protection of thermal power infrastructure facilities from enemy shelling. “Tasks have been set. Responsible persons have been identified. We are working to ensure that it is warm in the homes of Ukrainians,” the head of the Ukrainian government said.
Ukraine from November 1 to December 31, 2019 reduced reserves of natural gas in underground gas storage facilities (UGS) by 13.1% (by 2.850 billion cubic meters), to 18.934 billion cubic meters (bcm), according to recent data from JSC Ukrtransgaz.
Gas taking from the UGS of Ukraine, in particular, on December 31 amounted to 47.41 million cubic meters with the imports being 15.14 million cubic meters and domestic production standing at 56.97 million cubic meters.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the current volume exceeds the inventory on December 31, 2018 by 36.4%, December 31, 2017 by 28.9%, and December 31, 2016 by 57.9%.
In 2019, the total gas injection into the storage facilities exceeded its taking by 5.05 billion cubic meters, while in 2018 gas taking exceeded its injection by 820 million cubic meters.
As reported, over the past heating season, which lasted from November 6, 2018 to April 4, 2019, gas reserves in the UGS decreased by 8.450 billion cubic meters (from 17.195 billion cubic meters to 8.745 billion cubic meters).
Ukraine entered the 2019/2020 heating season starting on November 1 with the maximum reserves of 21.784 billion cubic meters over the last ten years.
Ukraine from April 4 to August 17, 2019 doubled its natural gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities (UGS), to 17.169 billion cubic meters (bcm), according to recent data from JSC Ukrtransgaz.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, this volume exceeds the inventory indicator on August 17, 2018 by 24.5%, on August 17, 2017 by 22.2%.
The storage facilities of the country on August 1-17 were replenished by 1.318 billion cubic meters of gas, which is equal to the average daily injection of 77.5 million cubic meters, while in July the figure was 74.4 million cubic meters per day, in June some 71.9 million cubic meters/day, and in May some 62.9 million cubic meters/day.
Underground gas storage facilities in Ukraine, in particular, on August 17 of this year were replenished by 74.36 million cubic meters with imports standing at 66.91 million cubic meters and domestic production of 54.8 million cubic meters.
Earlier, CEO of Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev said that the company intends to pump additional volumes of gas into the Ukrainian underground storage facilities in the event that Russia’s Gazprom ceases gas transit through the country after 2019. Ukraine plans to enter the next heating season with the reserves of about 20 billion cubic meters.
Allseeds group of companies is finalizing the construction of vegetable oil tanks at its terminal in Yuzhny seaport (Odesa region) in order to increase their storage capacity to 132,000 tonnes. At the loading rate of 1,300 tonnes of oil per hour, a 50,000 tonnes tanker will be full in just 40 hours, according to the group’s press release.
Allseeds in the nearest future is also planning to increase the total storage capacity of its vegetable oil terminal up to 200,000 tonnes.
According to the information on the group’s website, the storage capacity of its vegetable oil terminal is 42,000 tonnes.
Allseeds Group was founded in 2010.
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) may acquire three grain storage facilities from Mriya Agro Holding in Ternopil region as part of debt restructuring.
IFC requested respective permits for assets owned by private enterprise Noriia Zakhid, Black Bryony Holdings LLC and Elagri-Derenivka LLC, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has said.
As reported, Mriya and IFC in May 2017 agreed on the terms of restructuring of the holding’s debt. The parties agreed to split the debt into a secured and unsecured part. They also stipulated terms for restructuring the secured part of the debt. Mriya’s unsecured debt to IFC will be restructured on common conditions for all unsecured creditors.
Mriya’s total debt is $1.087 billion, of which $46 million is loans for working capital, $7 million for leasing of agricultural machinery, $130 million is secured loans, and $904 million is unsecured loans.
After the restructuring, the amount of secured loans will be reduced to $62 million, unsecured ones to $ 213 million.
Mriya is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding founded by Ivan Huta in 1992. Today, its land bank is 165,000 ha in Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Rivne regions. The capacity of its grain storage facilities is estimated at 380,000 tonnes.
