“Stopping may threaten enterprises”: disaster with coal reserves announced in Ukraine

The situation on the eve of the start of the heating season in Ukraine is of serious concern to specialists. So, the head of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada deputy Mikhail Volynets said that now in the warehouses of the country's thermal power plants there is 54% less coal than there was for the same period in 2018.

“Regarding whether there is coal in the warehouses of thermal power plants, it worries me more now, because we have already entered the autumn-winter period of 2019-2020 and then the winter-spring period. We now have 54% less coal in the warehouses of thermal power plants than in the corresponding period last year, ”Volynets said on the air of ZIK TV channel.

“Last year we had problems with the accumulation of coal in warehouses, but now it’s just a disaster,” he stressed.

The parliamentarian expressed the opinion that if the new leadership of the country does not join forces to resolve the crisis, then Ukraine may face restrictions on the supply of electricity to enterprises until they stop.

“It will just be a blackout, without any warning. Innocent people will suffer. Another threat may arise - this is the collapse of the energy system, since the blocks of thermal power plants have the unique ability of regulatory capabilities, we cannot regulate the blocks of nuclear power plants, ”Volynets added.

The estimate of coal reserves given by the specialist is confirmed by the latest report of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine. According to the agency for August 30, there are 840.2 thousand tons of coal in warehouses, which is 54.8% (1018 thousand tons) less than in the same period of 2018.

Moreover, over the past two weeks of summer, this figure has deteriorated significantly. According to the Ministry of Energy, on August 19, 918 thousand tons of coal was accumulated in Ukrainian warehouses - 46.5% (798.4 thousand tons) less than a year ago.

Note, from June 1, there is a ban on the supply of oil, coal and petroleum products from Russia to Ukraine. Commenting on the introduction of these measures, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that we are talking about a response to the sanctions of Kiev.

According to early August, Russian coal supplies to Ukraine in June fell 85%. According to Kommersant newspaper, citing data from the Central Dispatch Office of the Fuel and Energy Complex, Russian coal exports to Ukraine decreased in June compared to the same month of 2018 by 85.3% (750 thousand tons) to 129.3 thousand tons.

Purchase of coal abroad

Against this background, the Ukrainian energy company DTEK recently scheduled for September 3 and 4 tenders for the purchase of a total of 450 thousand tons of coal.

“Today there is a limited supply of coal in international markets. We use all available tools for finding fuel for our TPPs, ”the DTEK Energo press service said.

Shortly before that it became known that DTEK had already acquired more than 400 thousand tons of coal in Colombia. This was announced on August 20 by Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the Director General of DTEK Maxim Timchenko.

“At present, we have contracted the supply of more than 300 thousand tons of brand G coal, as well as 100 thousand tons of anthracite ... We do not stop there, we will continue to contract based on the situation that is now,” he said.

The problem of coal reserves was also mentioned in the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection. The department said that this issue is of primary importance.

“The first priority is coal in warehouses, as well as the balance of electricity, taking into account the situation at the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, where the first power unit was not included in the operational activities. Accordingly, it is necessary to recalculate the balance, and if we recalculate the balance, it will be other volumes of coal supply, ”said the head of the ministry, Alexei Orzhel.

It should be noted that in August a wave of miners' strikes took place throughout Ukraine that opposed salary delays. So, on August 12, workers at the Ukrainian mines Kurakhovskaya and Ukraine blocked the road, demanding payment of wage arrears. Later, the miners of the Kapitalnaya mine refused to work also because of wage arrears.

According to the Ukrainian political scientist and economist Oleksandr Dudchak, the Ukrainian authorities do not want to solve problems, getting rid of which could lead to an improvement in the economic situation in the country.

“The authorities have some romantics who think that abroad will help us. Coal problems could be completely calmly solved, but they continue the old policy, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

According to him, in this situation, Kiev should sit down at the negotiating table with the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, but this does not happen.

“This is a problem created exclusively by the Kiev leadership, it is far-fetched and basically has political expediency, and not an economic rational kernel,” the political scientist is convinced. “I think that they could still have time before the heating season, but for this you need a strong-willed decision to lift the blockade from the Donbass, and not get coal from Pennsylvania.”

In turn, the head of the Ukrainian analytical center, economist Alexander Okhrimenko, connects the difficult situation with coal in Ukraine with the activities of the oligarchs.

“At the moment, there are two very respected oligarchs who make very good money in Ukraine by buying very expensive coal and, accordingly, selling very expensive energy to Ukrainians. Zelensky ordered this scheme to be broken, ”said the expert.

According to him, Ukrainian oligarchs, using various schemes, buy very expensive coal and explain that they are “forced” to do this because of a lack of coal, and also demand to raise prices.

“Now the goal is to buy coal directly, for example, from the DPR and LPR, and this is not according to the schemes. This is not profitable for them, ”concluded the interlocutor of RT.