In 2024, PJSC Ukrnafta increased the volume and expanded the geography of imported fuel supplies from global producers to the country, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the press service, while last year the company imported fuel from the United States, Sweden, Poland, and Greece, in 2024 it also began importing large wholesale consignments from Denmark, Slovakia, and Turkey.
“All fuels produced by such powerful companies as Orlen, HELLENiQ ENERGY, Marathon Petroleum Company and others have the appropriate certificates and, due to their optimal characteristics, are guaranteed to preserve engine life. We invite you to visit Ukrnafta filling stations and guarantee that your car will be satisfied with our quality,” the statement says.
“Ukrnafta is the largest oil company in Ukraine and operates a national network of 537 filling stations, of which 456 are in operation. The company is implementing a comprehensive program to restore operations and update the format of its filling stations. Since February 2023, Ukrnafta has been issuing its own fuel coupons and NAFTAKarta cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state a share of corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Prices for motor fuel will stabilize in early August after new batches of fuel will enter the market, taking into account excise duty in the price structure, according to the director of consulting group “A-95” Sergei Kuyun.
“This will happen when the volume of fuel with a new tax burden, which began to be cleared from July 1, will fully replace the old stocks. According to our expectations, this will happen in early August,” the expert said at a briefing at Ukrinform on Monday.
According to Kuyun, the wholesale market, which reacts much faster to fiscal changes, can serve as a certain predictive indicator for future fuel prices on the retail market.
“The wholesale market is characterized by the fact that operators have no residuals there, they work very quickly and incorporate all new circumstances and factors into prices very quickly. The wholesale market began to grow back in late June and today we have the following picture: for gasoline A-95 prices have increased by 7.74 UAH/liter, for diesel fuel – by almost 7 UAH/liter. In this market new taxes are already in place and it can be projected on future retail prices,” – said the director of “A-95”.
In turn, according to the consulting group, for the first week of July in the retail price of A-95 in the first week of July on average rose by 3 UAH – to 47.90 UAH / l, diesel fuel – by 3.45 UAH, to 46.86 UAH / l, liquefied gas – by 1.47 UAH, to 23.39 UAH / l.
“The main factor in the price rise was VAT, as this tax is paid immediately at the time of sale and immediately automatically came into effect. Further we expect that the price will gradually increase already at the expense of excise duty, excise duty is paid at the time of crossing the border,” the expert explained.
As he recalled, the tax burden on motor fuels from July 1 increased on A-95 – by 11 UAH/liter, diesel fuel – by 8 UAH/liter, liquefied gas – by 3 UAH/liter.
According to the director of “A-95”, in June in Ukraine there was a record level of imported diesel fuel supplies since the beginning of full-scale Russian aggression at the level of 650 thousand tons.
“Accordingly, this indicates that traders were preparing for this, brought a lot of low-tax fuel. This stock will now be realized and gradually motor fuel with new taxes will come to the market. And when this stock rotation is completed, then we can talk about the full integration of new taxes into the price,” summarized the expert.
As reported, in mid-March 2022, the Rada adopted a law on additional tax incentives to support business during the war, aimed, among other things, at keeping fuel prices down. According to it, temporarily, for the period of martial law, zero excise tax and VAT of 7% instead of 20% were set on fuel.
On September 21, 2022, the Rada passed Bill No. 7668-d on the return of excise taxes on motor fuel, setting them at EUR100 for gasoline and diesel (hereinafter – per 1,000 liters), EUR52 for liquefied gas, butane and isobutane, and EUR100 for alternative motor fuel and biodiesel. VAT for all types of fuel remained at 7%.
However, according to this document, from July 1, 2023 the level of fuel taxes returned to the pre-war level: VAT – to 20%, excise duty on gasoline – to EUR213, on diesel – to EUR140 per 1,000 liters.
Ukrainian nuclear power plants will be able to fully switch to fuel from the American company Westinghouse by the end of 2023, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said.
“We have quite optimistic forecasts and confirmation that our cooperation with Westinghouse will enable us to implement this process (provision of American fuel – ER) already by the end of this year,” the minister said on the air of national TV marathon “United News” on Thursday, referring to his visit to the American partners’ fuel fabrication plant.
At that he noted that Ukrainian specialists present at the plant “are doing a lot to produce the corresponding fuel as soon as possible in order to replace the Russian fuel.
Answering the presenter’s question about the prospects of nuclear fuel production in Ukraine, the head of the Ministry of Energy said: “We also have relevant agreements with Westinghouse to build a nuclear fuel production plant in Ukraine. There is no doubt that this will be done.
Along with this Galushchenko paid attention to the fact that the whole Europe is now very urgent to stop using Russian nuclear fuel.
“During our meetings with ministers of power of EU and USA we discussed in details that it is important to ensure fuel production in necessary amount as soon as possible in order to replace Russian fuel in European market”, – he explained, adding that it is impossible to quickly find nuclear fuel substitute, unlike, for example, for gas, because it is produced in certain amount, and increase of amount requires time.
At the same time the minister emphasized that the Russians have almost a monopoly position on the market of fuel for VVER-440 units.
“The Minister stressed that the Russian Federation is nearly a monopolist on the market of VVER-440 power units, therefore we are working to ensure that Westinghouse starts producing assemblies for these units this year which will help to get rid of strong dependence on Rosatom in this area.
As reported, in early March 2022, after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Energoatom completely abandoned the purchase of Russian nuclear fuel.
On June 2, at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, Energoatom and the US Westinghouse signed an agreement to supply nuclear fuel to all Ukrainian nuclear power plants with 15 power units (currently 7 power units are loaded with this fuel – ER).
Before this in the very beginning of 2022 Peter Kotin, President of Energoatom, in his comments to Interfax-Ukraine noted that it would take Westinghouse about two years to be ready to cover the fuel demand of the NAEK for 13 existing VVER-1000 units, for which time the nuclear power plants have enough fuel.
Asked about the timing of Westinghouse fuel deliveries for the two VVER-440s at the Rivne NPP, Kotin indicated that the first batch of American fuel for VVER-440s will be delivered in 2025.
Then in a March 2022 interview with Interfax-Ukraine, Kotin explained that there were no questions about fuel for VVER-1000, while more effort was needed for fuel for VVER-440 so that Westinghouse would have time to provide supplies next year, which is 2023.
At the same time, Kotin noted that Energoatom is also optimizing fuel delivery schedules so that the U.S. partners can meet the fuel demand. According to him, due to the reduced consumption of electricity during the war, which resulted in reduced production, the units will be able to work longer on the fuel already brought in.
As part of the cooperation, Energoatom and Westinghouse launched a training program for Ukrainian nuclear specialists in the United States, under which more than 60 specialists and nuclear graduates will study the AP1000® technology.
Oil prices are declining on Wednesday morning after reports of a record two-year increase in US inventories of the fuel last week.
The cost of March futures for Brent crude oil on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell by $0.77 (0.96%) to $79.33 a barrel by 7:10 a.m. compared to the value at the close of trading the previous day. Those contracts rose 45 cents (0.6%) to $80.10 per barrel on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $74.34 a barrel by that time, down $0.78 (1.04%) from the previous session. The contract rose by 49 cents (0.7 percent) to $75.12 a barrel at the end of last session.
Previous day’s report of American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that U.S. inventories climbed by 14.9 million barrels on January 6, following a decline over the past two weeks. The increase was the highest since February 2021.
Traders are now waiting for official data to be released by the Energy Department on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Analysts polled by Trading Economics predict that the Energy Department data will point to a 2.24 million-barrel decline in oil reserves. The survey was conducted before the API data was released.
The day before the oil market was supported by expectations of growth in demand for fuel in China as the last restrictions were canceled. At the same time, investors are concerned about the growing number of infections of coronavirus in the country.
“We are confident that oil prices will go back up after the peak of COVID-19 infection in China has passed and economic activity is accelerating,” said Carsten Fritsch, a commodity market analyst at Commerzbank.
The price of March futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell by $0.77 (0.96%) to $79.33 per barrel by 7:10 a.m. from the close of trading the day before. Those contracts rose 45 cents (0.6%) to $80.10 per barrel on Tuesday.
The price of WTI futures for February at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is $74.34 per barrel by that time, down $0.78 (1.04%) from the previous session. The contract rose by 49 cents (0.7 percent) to $75.12 a barrel at the end of last session.
Previous day’s report of American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that U.S. inventories climbed by 14.9 mln barrels on January 6 following a decline the previous two weeks. The increase was the highest since February 2021.
Traders are now waiting for official data to be released by the Energy Department on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Analysts polled by Trading Economics predict that the Energy Department data will point to a 2.24 million-barrel decline in oil reserves. The survey was conducted before the API data was released.
The day before the oil market was supported by expectations of growth in demand for fuel in China as the last restrictions were canceled. At the same time, investors are concerned about the growing number of infections of coronavirus in the country.
“We are confident that oil prices will go back up after the peak of COVID-19 disease in China and the acceleration of economic activity,” – said a commodity market analyst at Commerzbank Karsten Fritsch.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has handed over almost a million liters of fuel and 312 vehicles of various types to units of the AFU during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to a company press release, this way increases the mobility of defenders as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front militarized initiative.
“The war of the XXI century is the confrontation of technology. Therefore, the advantage in the battlefield often depends on equipping the troops with the right equipment. In addition to weapons, vehicles are important. It is they that help fortify positions, provide the necessary units, move quickly and stay one step ahead of the enemies. To keep our defenders mobile, Metinvest Group sends fuel and vehicles to the front lines,” the press release states.
It is noted that in ten months of full-scale war Metinvest allocated over 2.8 billion UAH, so that Ukraine could withstand and win. More than half of this amount, 1.5 billion UAH, went to the army and the military.
Thus, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion the defenders received special-purpose vehicles from the company’s enterprises. These were trucks, bulldozers and excavators. They were used for construction of fortifications and construction of protective structures.
“Metinvest, within the framework of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front militarized initiative, organized the delivery of vehicles from abroad. Primarily pickup trucks, all-wheel-drive jeeps and vans were purchased and sent to the front lines – they were needed at all front lines to deliver ammunition and personnel, evacuate the wounded, transport important cargoes, conduct redeployment and conduct raids behind enemy lines.
In addition, Metinvest provided military medics of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with ambulances. 20 specialized vehicles were purchased in Europe to save the lives of wounded fighters.
Metinvest Group also donates fuel for the needs of the Armed Forces and Territorial Defense Forces. The defenders were allocated almost a million liters of gasoline and diesel fuel to fuel their vehicles and military equipment. It especially supported the military in spring, when there was a shortage of fuel on the market. And the scarce product is also systematically sent to the communities of Avdeevka, so that critical infrastructure services take care of the citizens.
“Our defenders are pushing hard to cleanse Ukraine of its enemies. And we have made sure that the AFU has vehicles and full tanks of fuel. This war is built on mobility and the ability to stay ahead of the enemy. That’s why we also provide the military with technological drones and thermal imagers. And while the defenders defend our country’s independence on the front lines, Metinvest Group is their reliable support in bringing Ukraine’s victory closer,” said Metinvest CEO Yury Ryenkov, quoted by the press service.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Dnipropetrovsk regions and in European countries.
The major shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%) that jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest group.
As part of the Steel Front military initiative founded by Rinat Akhmetov, more than 2,000 drones and walkie-talkies, 700 cars and half a million liters of fuel were handed over to Ukrainian soldiers, the businessman’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
He also handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine more than 150,000 bulletproof vests produced at SCM enterprises. “For this, metallurgists have mastered the technology of smelting special armored steel of a high level of protection, and also found contractors who sew plate carriers,” the press service reports.
In addition to bulletproof vests, the soldiers also received other means of protection: more than 20,000 helmets and 40,000 first-aid kits produced in accordance with NATO standards. “Because this war is primarily a war of high technology, Akhmetov has directed millions to purchase cars, drones and walkie-talkies – this is what gives our soldiers an advantage at the front,” the text says.
More than 1,011 modern drones and 1,292 walkie-talkies, 1,600 special devices (thermal imagers, rangefinders) have already been handed over to the military. To ensure the mobility of the units, the SCM businesses handed over more than 700 vehicles to the front, primarily reliable off-road vehicles, and provided them with fuel. In total, 595,000 liters of fuel were sent to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and peaceful cities.
“We do not plan to stop and will do everything to bring Ukraine’s victory closer. And we will definitely win,” Akhmetov said.
As reported, since the beginning of the war, SCM companies have sent over UAH 3 billion to help Ukraine and Ukrainians, and this figure is growing every day.
