Russia resumed supplies of coal and gas to Ukraine
Moscow - Kyiv, December 8 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Cars with Russian coal for Ukraine, previously detained at the border with Ukraine, crossed the border after Ukraine transferred $378 million for 1 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, from the purchase of which it wanted to refrain until 2015.
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Kyiv was forced to resume the purchase of Russian gas, interrupted on June 16 after Naftogaz switched to prepayment, due to severe energy shortages. Ukraine tried to switch to alternative fuels, in particular coal, but to no avail. Its supplies from South Africa have been ineffective, and coal shipments from Russia stopped two weeks ago without official explanation.
Due to a shortage of coal, Ukrainian thermal power plants cannot generate enough electricity, which has already led to rolling blackouts. The situation worsened after the emergency shutdown of one of the units of the Zaporozhye NPP on November 28. Indirectly, the connection between the resumption of gas supplies and the delay in coal shipment can confirm that immediately after the advance payment was transferred, the problem disappeared. The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported that wagons carrying 50 thousand tons of Russian coal crossed the border.
But Ukraine has already had to load gas generation, despite plans to save fuel to the last, making maximum use of the reverse capabilities from Slovakia. Since November 26, daily gas withdrawals from Ukrainian underground storage facilities have exceeded 100 million cubic meters.
Already, their total reserves have decreased to 13,3 billion compared to 16,7 billion cubic meters in mid-October. Of the remaining volume, Naftogaz owns only 7,8 billion cubic meters, and the rest belongs to private companies, while at least 4 billion cubic meters are buffer gas that cannot be lifted. Thus, Ukraine has critically little gas left to cover another four months of the heating season.
“We had to purchase gas from Gazprom because, due to a catastrophic shortage of coal, gas and oil units of thermal power plants were switched on,” confirms "Kommersant" co-chairman of the Ukrainian Energy Strategies Fund Dmitry Marunich. According to him, the current payment to Gazprom was made at the expense of the National Bank’s reserves, and Russia will still remain the main gas supplier for Ukraine.
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