Major investments in energy efficiency for factories and apartment buildings could reduce by half Ukraine’s gas consumption during the 2020s, said Vitaliy Shcherbenko, Naftogaz Director of Energy Efficiency, tells Den news site. This reduction could eliminate Ukraine’s need to import 10 bcm of gas every year, he says. Investments are needed... #Energyefficiency #NaftogazUkraine
Yesterday, Russia went on a charm offensive, talking up the new US-Germany accord that gives a flashing green light to Nord Stream 2. “Gazprom has always stressed its readiness to continue gas transit through Ukraine, including after 2024, based on economic feasibility,” Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said, TASS reported. “The matter of ... #GreenLightforNordstream2 #NordStream2opening #Nordstreamcompletion
Addressing German consumers, Miller said the trans-Baltic pipeline “means lower costs for the end consumer by providing a shorter transport route – the route to Germany is almost 2,000 kilometers shorter than through the Ukrainian pipeline system.” Addressing German Greens, he said: “CO2 emissions via Nord... #EUgassources #Nordstream2issues #transbalticpipeline
Polish and Ukrainian officials focused on the security implications of the pipeline. “This decision has created political, military and energy threats for Ukraine and Central Europe, while increasing Russia’s potential to destabilize the security situation in Europe, perpetuatin... #nordstream2 #NordstreamthreatforEU #polandandukraine
In Washington, Yuriy Vitrenko, CEO of Naftogaz, warned of the security threat posed by an empty pipe. “If there is no physical transit of gas through Ukraine, the risk of full-scale military aggression by Russia will increase significantly,” he told the Ukrainian service of Voice of America. “Russia w... #NordStream2threatforUkraine #VitrenkoandNordStream2
In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that if Russia tried to use the pipeline as a weapon, “we are not without any tools to do something. ” However, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Germany negotiators blocked “a U.S. request for a so-called kill-switch clause, enabling Berlin to suspend gas flows in the event of Russian ... #GermanyandNordstream2 #MerkelonNordstream2 #NordStream2andMerkel
Annalena Baerbock, the Green Party candidate to succeed Merkel in Germany’s September 27 national election, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that the agreement is “not a solution, especially not for security in Ukraine.” #AnnalenaBaerbockNordstream2 #NordStream2andGermany
The Wall Street Journal editorializes: “The deal with Germany is embarrassing in its weakness. In a joint U.S.-German statement on Wednesday, Berlin pledges to impose sanctions in the future ‘should Russia attempt to use energy as a weapon or commit further aggressive acts against Ukraine.’ We ... #GermanyandNordstream2 #OpositionofNordStream2
Calling the Russia-Germany line, “the Molotov-Ribbentrop gas pipeline,” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor of London’s Daily Telegraph, mocks Washington’s assertion that the US-Germany deal will not allow the Krem... #GermanyandUSAnordstream2 #NordStream2compleation #RussianGermanypipeline
Timothy Ash, the London-based strategist for Bluebay Asset Management Company, asks: “Really does anyone believe that Germany will immediately suspend all gas delivery from Nord Stream 2 if Russia cuts flows thru Ukraine?” #GermanyandNordstream2 #NordStream2andGermany
In speaking about the conflict over yesterday’s energy source, Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, tells The Washington Post. “Critics haven’t noticed that the European Union has over recent years effectively solved its... #EneryUkraine #EUenergysecurity
Germany and the US unveiled their compromise on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline yesterday, eliciting a wave of criticism from German Greens and US Republicans. Critics complained of a lack of language specifying when and how Germany would take the costly move of shutting down the pipeline t... #GermanyandUSonNordstream2 #Nordstream2compromises #NordStream2opening
Yesterday Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the compromise, an agreement designed to allow the €9.5 billion pipeline to open this fall. With Angela Merkel’s plan to step down after the September 27 Bundestag elections, the Greens, her party’s main opponents, were scathing. “At a time when Putin is putting massive rhetorical and ... #AngelaMerkel #nordstream2 #Putin
In Washington, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that he had no doubt Russia “will use the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a weapon of coercion against Ukraine and transatlantic energy security as soon as it is operational. Promises to invest in future Ukrainian energy projects and ambiguous threats of consequences won’t change th... #MichaelMcCaul #nordstream2 #Nordstream2weapon
U.S. Senator Jim Risch, a ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and sanctions legislation co-author, said this week’s agreement “was negotiated without the participation and consent of key allies like Ukraine and Poland, and does not guarantee a single concrete consequence if Russia uses Nord Stream 2 as the geopolitical weapon it is.” In response, the Undersecretary of Statem Victoria Nulandm told a Senate Foreign Re... #JimRischandNordstream2 #NordStream2geopoliticalweapon #NordStream2threat
Germany and the US are finalizing an agreement which would allow Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to open this fall – under certain conditions, Bloomberg reports from Washington, citing U.S. officials. Conditions are to include: sanctions if Russia tries to use the pipeline as a weapon against Ukraine; Germany would lobby Russia to extend Gaz... #NordStream2compleation #NordStream2opening #UkraineDependsonEnergysources
Germany will also channel gas to Ukraine in the event that Russia cuts gas supplies to Ukraine , Reuters reports from Washington. The $11 billion pipeline – 98% complete – is to send Arctic gas directly from Russia to Germany across the Baltic seabed. Coupled with Nord Stream 1 and TurkStream, ... #GasforUkraine #GasThroughUkraine #GermanyandUkraine
Solar and wind energy producers are pursuing 130 legal actions totaling $66 million against Ukrenergo’s Guaranteed Buyer for non-payment of the green tariff, reports expro.com.ua. The Guaranteed Buyer says it is trying to reach a compromise on the claims. Last month, this state company said the overdue debt amounts to $630 million. The President’s office i... #ChargesAgainstUkrenergo #UkrenergoDoesntpaymoney #WindEnergyUkraine #windpowerukraine
President Zelenskiy’s White House visit now is to be in August, before Ukraine’s 30th Independence Day celebrations, on Aug. 24. Concorde Capital’s James Hydzik writes: “The delay stems from Washington’s ongoing concerns over the replacement of the head of Naftoga... #ZelenskiyTriptoUS #ZelesnkiytriptoWashington
Concorde Capital’s Evgeniya Akhtyrko wrote: “A surge in exports of ferrous metals and mineral products is a result of an incredibly favorable price situation on global markets. A surge in imports of vehicles is likely caused by a new wave in th... #exportsofferrousmetals #ferrousmetalsexport #UsedCarimportintoUkraine
By 2025, the EU plans to make batteries for 6 to 8 million electric cars per year. To build this industry, “investments in the sector reached more than €120 billion in 2019 and 2020 alone – that is three times more than in China,” Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission’s Vice-Presi... #DemandForElectricCars #ElectricCarsinEU #ElectricCarsProduction
Lithium: EU’s battery industry will need 18 times more supply of lithium by 2030 and 60 times more by 2050. “With this huge demand comes a huge opportunity for Ukraine not only for extracting lithium but also ... #Lithiumdemand #LithiumfromUkraine #Lithiummining
Cobalt: “Currently, Europe imports close to 70% of cobalt from Congo and other far away places. And again Ukraine has deposits of cobalt.” #CobaltMininginUkraine #CobaltUkraine
Rare earth: “Europe imports 98%-99% of rare earths from China. Some demand could be covered by supplies from Ukraine. We need rare earths for batteries, for magnets used in wind turbines, etc.” #Rareearthminerals
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation says Kostyantin Zhevago, controlling shareholder of London-listed iron pellet producer Ferrexpo, had been put on an international wanted list . Zhevago, a former lawmaker and former beneficiary owner of Finance & Credit Bank, is wanted on suspicion of embezzlement and money-laundering in connection with the disappearance of $113 million... #FerrexpoOwnerWanted #KostyantinZhevagowanted
Nathan’s Famous, the New York hot dog brand, has arrived in Ukraine. From this week, the all-beef, smoked sausages – with secret seasonings – are on sale at six of the SOCAR gas stations in Kyiv. SOCAR, officially the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, has bough... #GasStationsSocar #SocarUkraine
In a setback for Russia’s gas pipelines to Germany, Europe’s top court yesterday ruled that Gazprom must cut in half its gas volumes through Nord Stream 1 to German’s OPAL pipeline. The pipeline which runs from the Baltic to the German-Czech border, Reuters reports from Brussels. Under the EU’s Third Energy Package, the other half of Nord Stream 1 must be allocated to other shipp... #EUagainstGazprom #EUcutsgassuppliesbyRussia #NordStream1pipeline #RussianGasforEU #RussianpipelinetoGermany
Ukraine could displace China as the EU’s top “supplier of raw materials and components for these technologies of the future for Europe, ” said Maroš Šefčovič. The European Commission vice president, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. “You can do better than China. I understand [Ukraine’s] President, Prime Minister and your bu... #RawMaterialsforBatteries #RawmaterialsforEU #UkraineCarReplaceCHina
According to GMK Centre, Ukrainian steelmakers will need to invest $25 billion in order to meet the new low carbon standards of the EU and the US. Speaking at an international forum on Wednesday: “Decarbonization of the Steel Industry: a Challenge for Ukraine.” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest said: “Metinvest is developing a detailed roadmap t... #EUstandardsforSteel #SteelMakersfollowEUstandards #SteelMakersUkraine
Over the next three years, Interpipe, the Dnipro-based steel pipe and railway wheel manufacturer, is investing $100 million in carbon reducing projects, Denys Morozov, First Deputy Director General of Interpipe, announced to the GMK forum. In an indicator of how far Ukraine has to go he said the share of steel produced by electrometallurgy, a low carb... #InterpipeSteelUkraine #InterpipeUkraine
The EU would tax jet fuel, ban new gasoline and diesel cars after 2035 and impose a ‘carbon border tax’ on imports of ‘dirty’ steel , the BBC reported last night from Brussels. The plan, which has to be approved by the European Parliament, would implement a 10-year goal set last fall by the EU Commission to cut carbon emissions by... #CarbonBorderTax #CarbonEmissionsUkraine #LoweringCarbonEmission
Raw materials for batteries and renewable energy equipment promise a “a new chapter” for EU-Ukraine cooperation in the 2020s, said Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission Vice President, at a forum in Kyiv on Tuesday. “Batteries are the main component of the entire field of electric mobility and storage for renewable energy,... #MiningRawMaterialsinUkraine #RenewableEnergyUkraine #UkraineRawMaterials
“Critical raw materials, essential for decarbonising our economies, can be found in abundance in Ukraine , which holds deposits of 20 out of 30 such materials, said Šefčovič, a politician from neighboring Slovakia. “Engage with us on the EU’s flagship strategy, the European Green Deal – in particular on ... #RawMaterialsforBatteries #RawMaterialsMiningUkraine
Long term investment in Ukraine’s mining sector could generate $400 billion over the next decade, said the Prime Minister, Shmygal. Goals should be: double exports, cut imports by two thirds, and expand mineral processing. He said, Ukraine should aim to be a full partner of the EU in the extractio... #MiningInvestmentsUkraine #MIningMineralsUkraine #MiningUkraine
Of an EU list of 30 critical raw materials, 21 are in Ukraine, said Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission’s Vice President. Speaking at the signing of a co-operation agreement in Kyiv (EU-Ukraine batteries and raw materials cooperation agreement): “We’re talkin... #EUinterestsinUkraineMining #EUukrainebatteriesproduction #UkraineMineralsforEU
Work already has commenced on the preparation of the legal environment for EU mining investment. At yesterday’s EU-Ukraine forum, Matti Maasikas, EU Ambassador to Ukraine, told reporters that: “Our common carbon-free future requires the widespread use of electric cars, wind turbines, solar panels... #InvestinginMining #miningInvestmentsinUkraine #MiningUkraine
Highlighting growing EU interest in Ukraine as a source for raw materials for electric batteries, the EU Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, traveled to Zhytomyr yesterday to tour the large scale state-owned titanium-zirconium mine which will be privatized on August 31. The parent company, United Mining and Chemical Company, Europe’s largest titanium producer, has attracted EU based firms as qualified bid... #MarošŠefčovič #MiningTitaniumUkraine #Zhytomyr
The photo opportunity at the open pit mine today came as Šefčovič prepares to sign the EU-Ukraine strategic partnership on raw materials and batteries in Kyiv today. Parallel to the signing of the partnership, an all-day forum will be held: “Conference on Critical Raw Materials and Batteries.” Šefčovič, who held the commission’s Energy portfolio for five years, said that: “Securing a sustainable supply of raw materials is an essential pr... #EnergyStorageUkraine #RawMaterialsforBatteries #RawMaterialsfromUkraine
During the 2020s, South Korea plans to invest $35 billion in the development of electric car batteries , reports 3dnews. “LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation and Samsung SDI are key players in the battery market, and are planning to invest both in battery technology research and in manufacturing itself,”... #ChinaAmperexTechnology #ElectricCarBatteries #InvestinginCarBatteriesProduction
Last night, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany wants Ukraine to remain a transit country for Russian gas to the EU. “We guarantee that Ukraine will maintain its status as a gas transit country, even if construction of Nord Stream 2 is completed,” Merkel said in Berlin at a joint press conference with President Zele... #AngelaMerkelandUkraine #MerkelandZelenskiy #UkraineGasTransitCountry
Separately, Matthias Warnig, CEO of Nord Stream AG, told German’s Handelsblatt newspaper that the gas pipeline is 98% complete. “We expect the construction work to be completed by the end of August,” he said in comments published on Sunday. Warnig predicted the pipeline will become operational this fall. #nordstream2 #NordStream2completion
President Zelenskiy will dine in Berlin tonight with German Chancellor Angela Merkel – a final attempt to argue Ukraine’s case on Nord Stream 2 before she meets on Thursday with President Biden in Washington. A few days later, Zelenskiy will also meet Biden in Washington. He is expect... #NordStream2discussion #ZelenskiyinBerlin #ZelenskiyMeetsMerkel
In advance of Zelenskiy’s Berlin visit, Germany’s government said Friday that Germany wants Ukraine to retain its role as a transit country for Russian gas to Ukraine. Once Nord Stream 2 is commissioned, as early as this fall, Russia will not need Ukraine’s pipeline system. German Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Friday: “For us, the issue o... #NordStream2discussion #ZelenskiyandMerkel #ZelenskiyBerlinvisit #ZelenskiyVisitsGermany
Once Nord Stream 2 is complete, EU officials should limit its volume, relying on EU competition law that applies to the land extensions of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, Prime Minister Shmygal told LRT media. “The fact that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipe... #NordStream2compleation #NordStream2gasvolume
“Putin will use weaponized pipeline to blackmail Europe, ” headlines an essay in the Atlantic Council by Inna Sovsun, a Rada member for the Holos party. “By undermining the country’s status as a key transit route to the EU, Moscow will succeed in dramatical... #EUgasCrisis #RussianGas #RussianGasPipeline
Vinnytsiaoblenergo, a publicly held company, said on Facebook that it was shocked by the media reports. “We officially declare that our company has nothing to do with any unlawful activity,” the company said in the release, also posted on its website. “Our company’s premises never worked equipment... #CryptominingUkraine #EnergystealingCryptomining #Vinnytsiaoblenergo
Parts of the Chornobyl exclusion zone could become a plantation for growing crops for biogas, Economy Minister Oleksiy Lyubchenko told Ukraine’s international reform conference in Vilinius last week. “Ukraine has the Chornobyl zone, where a huge amount of land is not used,” he said. “The... #Chornobyl #Chornobyl2021 #Chornobylexclusionzone
The average price of imported natural gas paid by Ukraine quadrupled over the last year, reaching $334 per 1,000 cubic meters at the end of the June, the Economy Ministry reported yesterday. This autumn, increases in the price of gas will be passed on to Ukrainian households, with gas bil... #ImportedNaturalGasPrices2021 #NaturalGasPrices2021 #RussiaPushesGaspricesUp
Russia’s Gazprom is keeping to its transmission contract by sending through Ukraine 19.7 billion cubic meters for the first half of this year , as indicated by figures from Ukraine’s Gas Transmission System Operator. Starting this year through to 2024, Gazprom is committed to sending 40 bcm a year through Ukraine. “Gazprom is using all prev...
Through Saturday, the Yamal-Europe line through Belarus and Poland is closed for repairs, helping to push EU prices to 13-year highs . Next Tuesday, Nord Stream 1 closes for 10 days of scheduled repairs. Despite these supply drops and low storage levels in Europe, Gazprom refuses to book extra capacity through Ukraine. “If Gazprom ...
