Ukraine stops shipping anthracite coal from ATO zone on June 1

Wednesday, June 15, 2016 - 16:20 (EEST) Section: Latest news

Head of the National Commission of Ukraine for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) Dmytro Vovk says that shipments of anthracite coal from the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine were suspended on June 1, 2016.
”There have been no coal shipments from the ATO zone since the beginning of this month [June 1, 2016],” Vovk said amid coal pricing debates at a meeting of the parliamentary fuel and energy committee.
Vovk noted that only 400,000 tonnes of anthracite coal per month could be imported with total monthly consumption being one million tonnes.
”Shipments of anthracite coal by sea can reach 400,000 tonnes per month. The overall consumption for the needs of Ukrainian thermal power plants is one million tonnes per month,” Vovk said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine began to experience an acute shortage of coal in the summer of 2014, when, as a result of hostilities, the government completely lost control of part of Donbas, where the majority of the coal mines were located. Nuclear power plants account for about 60% of power generation in the country, and the remaining share is generated by thermal power plants that use coal and gas, as well as hydropower plants and ”green” energy facilities.
In January 2015, Ukraine reduced coal production by half to 2.5 million tonnes as compared to the previous year amid continued fighting in Donbas. Kyiv-based authorities decided to start coal imports from Australia, South Africa and Russia.
In 2015, Ukraine imported $1.632 billion worth of bituminous and anthracite coal. The largest coal shipments last year arrived from Russia, the United States, and Kazakhstan. Coal imports from Russia were estimated at $771.3 million (47.2% of expenditures on solid fuel), shipments from the United States amounted to $400 million (24.5%), while shipments from Kazakhstan were worth $123.7 million (7.6%). Coal imports from other countries were estimated at $338.2 million.
On May 23, Ukrainian Energy Minister Ihor Nasalyk said that Ukraine would not buy anthracite coal from South Africa in 2016.