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reported on April 12. The TITR runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and onwards through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. The route was launched in October 2013 after the establishment of a Coordinating Committee. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia last October signed an agreement on the establishment of the International Association of TITR, headquartered in the Kazakh capital of Astana. The association focuses on attracting transit and foreign trade cargoes as well as on integrated logistics support. On April 11, the heads of railway companies from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine signed a cooperation agreement and pledged to develop a road map for the potential joint project.
9.1.3 Utilities sector news
The Ukrainian government extended on April 12 the state of emergency in the electricity market for one more month due to a crisis over anthracite coking coal supplies caused by a blockade of rail links from the war-torn Donbas region. In February, Kyiv imposed t emporary emergency measures i n the national energy sector after a group of far-right nationalists and veterans of the Donbas conflict imposed the trade blockade with coal-producing eastern parts of the country, controlled by Russia-backed rebels. In March, the Ukrainian government made the initial one-month extension of the emergency measures. On March 15, a day after an abortive attempt by law enforcers to break up the unofficial blockade, the Ukrainian leadership then imposed an official trade blockade on Donbas. President Petro Poroshenko instructed the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) to suspend transport communications with rebel-held areas.
9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
JKX Oil & Gas reported an 8% y/y drop in natural gas and oil output in 1Q17 to 9,436 boepd, according to its report on April 11. The decline was mostly the result of its Russian output dropping 16% y/y to 5,320 boepd. Its 1Q17 Ukraine production rose 0.7% to 3,917 boepd. On a monthly basis, the decline was more pronounced. March total output was 8,405 boepd, or 14% less than February, 17% less than in January and 23% less y/y. The March decline in Russia was 19% m/m and 35% y/y (to 4,568 boepd), which JKX attributed to the start of a workover at Well #25. This well produced about 30% of the gas of all of JKX’s Russian subsidiaries in February. In Ukraine, the company produced 3,534 boepd of hydrocarbons in March, which is an 8% decrease both on a month-on-month and year-on-year basis. The decline was mostly caused by continued fall in production at its new NN-47 well, which produced about 230 boepd in March (55% less than in February and 75% less than in January).
The net losses of Ukraine’s leading oil producer Ukrnafta swelled 61% y/y to UAH8.74bn in 2016 , according to its preliminary results posted on April 13. The losses were mostly the result of UAH11.2bn in receivables being written off, the company said. In particular, its receivables decreased to UAH6.2bn as of end-2016, down from UAH17.4bn as of end-3Q16 and UAH14.2bn as of end-2015. Ukrnafta's revenue dropped 21% y/y to UAH22.58bn, which was the result of a hydrocarbon output decline (by about 11% y/y) and lower
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