Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 25 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

The EBRD will lend up to €300mn

to Naftogaz

UKRAINE THE European Bank for Reconstruction and tariffs do not change in the next heating season.
Development (EBRD) has pledged to lend up to It is difficult for people because of the war. It will
The funds will cover €300mn to Naftogaz as concerns arise over this be provided”, Zelenskiy said last week.
emergency gas year’s heating season, Ukraine Business News The government also announced the forma-
purchases. reported on June 15. tion of the “headquarters for the preparation of
It is expected that Naftogaz, Ukraine’s larg- housing and communal services and the fuel and
est state-owned oil and gas company, will use energy complex for the autumn-winter period
the first €50mn to purchase emergency gas in of 2022/23”, Ukrinform reported on June 7. This
preparation for the colder months. In total, the will ensure that facilities damaged by the war will
company plans to raise €1bn to buy up to 1bn be repaired by the authorities in time for winter.
cubic metres of gas to guarantee there is enough "Together, we will make every effort to pro-
supply for autumn and ensure that everyone has vide warmth to the homes of our people," Minis-
access to crucial facilities. ter of Community and Territorial Development
The news comes after Ukraine banned the Oleksiy Chernyshov said.
export of fuel, oil, gas and coal in order to store Last month Naftogaz Trading announced the
enough for the colder months. President Volo- price increase of fixed gas volumes for fuel and
dymyr Zelenskiy warned citizens that this will energy companies from June 1. The new prices
be the “most difficult winter of all the years of rose by three and a half times: from UAH7,900
independence”. ($247) to UAH29,400 ($919) per thousand cubic
He also urged the government and local metres of gas.
authorities to keep the cost of utilities down to Oleksandr Minkovych, the chairman of the
pre-war levels for the winter season. Kharkiv CHP-5 thermal power plant (TPP),
"I would like to emphasise that I have set a which was forced to suspend operations due to
very specific task for the government – to do the new prices, recently called on officials to take
everything to ensure that gas and electricity action before the start of autumn. ™

Ukraine attacks oil platforms off

Crimea, local leader claims

UKRAINE UKRAINE has launched strikes against oil and by Russia.
gas drilling platforms stationed off the coast of The seizures are the subject of a long-run-
The rigs formerly Crimea, the Russia-annexed region’s head Sergei ning legal case between Russia and Ukraine.
belonged to Ukraine's Aksenov said on social media on June 20. The Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration
Naftogaz. “This morning, the drilling platforms of (PCA) ruled in February 2019 that Moscow
Chornomorneftegaz were attacked. I am in had violated its bilateral investment treaty with
touch with colleagues from the Ministry of Kyiv when it took control of the assets. It is yet to
Defence and the FSB, we are working on saving determine the amount Russia will have to pay,
people," Aksenov said on its Telegram channel. but Naftogaz estimates its damages at $10bn. The
"Five people were rescued with three of them court began hearings to determine these dam-
reported injured. The search for the rest of them ages in February, days before Moscow began its
continues." full-scale war in Ukraine.
Aksenov did not say what weapons were used For its part, Russia has said that the Hague
in the attack. Unconfirmed reports in Crimea court lacks jurisdiction to decide on the case.
that two jack-up drilling rigs at the Odessa gas Ukraine had pinned its hopes on its offshore
field were attacked and were set ablaze. gas reserves as a means of overcoming reliance
Chornomorneftegaz is developing nine gas on imports of the fuel. Since their seizure it has
fields in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Many held tenders for exploration rights in its remain-
of its assets were formerly controlled by Ukraine ing offshore, but even prior to the war, it had
and its national gas company, but were seized struggled to attract interest from international
during the March 2014 annexation of Crimea investors. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 22•June•2022