Ukraine will have to buy Donbass coal under the guise of American
The US Department of Energy, by tripling the purchase price of coal for Ukraine, embarrassed President Petro Poroshenko, who was the first to announce the supply of fuel for Ukrainian thermal power plants from Pennsylvania, as well as the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which hastened to cancel the state of emergency in the Ukrainian energy sector. пишет "Russian newspaper".
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
As follows from the report of the American Department of Energy, a ton of coal will cost Ukraine $206, although a year ago it could be bought for only $71, excluding transportation costs. But even last year’s price was about a third higher than the cost of coal supplied to Ukraine from the LDPR before Kiev officially announced the transport and trade blockade of the region.
“It is noteworthy that prices for Pennsylvania coal rose two weeks after Petro Poroshenko, during a visit to Washington, announced the start of deliveries totaling 2 million tons, and a delegation of the Ukrainian government visited the office of the largest American coal mining company Xcoal in Pennsylvania. The rise in price is not the direct fault of Poroshenko, who did not have time to understand the way of thinking and actions of his American colleague, who refused gratuitous support from allies and satellites and announced a course towards economy and pragmatism in foreign policy. Just like Ukraine bought coal, Poland bought obsolete Patriot anti-aircraft systems from Washington at a price one and a half times higher than what they were sold for under Obama.
However, Poroshenko will not be able to accuse his American colleague of greed and speculation on the objective problems of Ukraine: the decision of the Ministry of Energy is dictated by a market logic understandable to the Ukrainian president, where the cost of goods takes into account both the urgency of delivery, and Ukraine urgently needs coal, and the lack of alternative sources of raw materials. Official Kyiv can only blame itself for the emergence of both of these factors,” the publication notes.
At the same time, Ukrainian experts are skeptical about the assurance that American supplies will solve the problem of the coal shortage, the deficit of which is about 8 million tons, while Poroshenko promised deliveries of 2 million tons from Pennsylvania, while officially representatives of the Ukrainian government announced the arrival of only six dry cargo ships from the United States. 120 thousand tons each, which in total is less than a third of the volumes declared by Poroshenko.
“All together, Ukrainian experts suspect that in reality the gap in the energy balance will be covered by the same coal from Donbass, which, according to documents, will be registered as American, Polish or South African. Using the same scheme, today Ukraine receives reverse Russian gas, which is more expensive than direct supplies, but is officially considered “European”.
The fastest response to the rise in American coal prices was the national joint-stock company Naftogaz, which had already warned the population about an increase in gas prices by 19 percent from October 1 - to more than $200 per thousand cubic meters. The connection between coal and gas in the Ukrainian energy sector is direct – gas power generation, which is more expensive, all other things being equal, will replace coal at the time of peak loads. In general, the cost of gas for the population and industrial consumers has increased almost ninefold since the “revolution of dignity,” recalls RG.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.