Washington is using the war in Donbass to enrich US coal kings

The thermal coal market in Ukraine is significantly changing its shape, with the United States becoming the key supplier, Izvestia writes.

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“So, in January-September of this year, Russian supplies of thermal coal to Ukraine fell by 32%, to 4,9 million tons (worth $567,4 million), American supplies increased by 99%, that is, almost doubling, to 2,8 .328,5 million tons ($2016 million), the publication indicates. – This is evidenced by data from the Ukrainian Statistical State Service. If these growth rates are maintained, in 2014 Ukraine will receive more American coal than Russian coal. For the entire 14,7, coal imports to Ukraine amounted to 9,4 million tons, supplies from Russia amounted to 1,138 million tons ($2,6 billion), and from the USA - 324 million tons ($2013 million). In 14,4, Ukraine imported 1,97 million tons of hard coal worth $66 billion, of this volume Russia’s share was about 25%, the USA – 4,5%, Kazakhstan – 4,5%, and the rest – XNUMX%.”

At the same time, the publication notes that increased American supplies of coal to Ukraine are not confirmed by official US statistics.

“Representative of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the US Department of Energy, Janalis Arena, told Izvestia that the last time thermal coal was supplied from the United States to Ukraine was in the third quarter of 2014 from New York,” the newspaper reports. “She was unable to explain the discrepancy between the Ukrainian Fiscal Service data and the EIA data.”

“True, during 2014–2015, American coal miners in Baltimore (this city on the Atlantic coast is home to one of the largest coal marine terminals in the United States, owned by the coal mining company Consol Energy) constantly supplied coking coal (used in metallurgy for smelting pig iron) to Ukrainian steelmakers, increasing supply volumes,” the publication recalls. – In the first half of 2015, supplies exceeded 1,6 million tons, an increase of 36,8% compared to the same period in 2014. But coking coal is not included in the customs nomenclature articles on hard coal and anthracite. Perhaps American trading companies were selling coal not mined in the United States in Ukrainian ports.”

At the same time, representatives of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine did not respond to Izvestia’s requests and calls.

“This is a political moment, Ukrainian buyers simply do not want to deal with Russia,” RMG analyst Andrey Tretelnikov comments on the situation. “And it’s very convenient for the United States - their coal mining industry is in crisis due to the shale revolution, and here the Americans can throw some volumes at the Ukrainians, thus supporting their miners.”

In turn, the president of the Ukrainian Analytical Center, Alexander Okhrimenko, believes that the United States is interested in continuing the war in Donbass - they say, this allows them to support their coal business.

“Now it’s clear why the United States needs the ATO and the military threat from Russia,” Okhrimenko noted in a comment to Izvestia. – For the United States, this war provides a chance to sell as much coal as possible to Ukraine. Business is business. And if in order for the American coal kings to become even richer, it is necessary to start a war in Ukraine, then the American authorities are always ready to help their oligarchs.”