Ukraine:Information about the supplies of Russian coal is contradictory

Kiev is again talking about the problems with the supply of Russian coal. According to DTEK, they haven’t resumed. Sources of the Kommersant on the coal and railway markets of Russia claim that the shipment to the Ukraine is carried out, albeit intermittently. At the same time, the growth in exports could pose a threat to the controversial contract for the supply of Russian electricity in exchange for the power supply to the Crimea. This agreement has provoked conflict in the Ukrainian Government, and Kiev has already stated that it is ready to reduce the purchases, if the country has enough of coal.

On Friday, the Ukrainian state company Tsentrenergo (about 30% of the country's coal-fired generation) stated that the deliveries of Russian coal to heat power stations of the country were again stopped. The press centre of the company stated to the Interfax that, despite the existence of contracts, the shipment isn’t carried out and Tsentrenergo uses only the South African coal. On Friday, the problems with obtaining coal from Russia were also reported to the Kommersant by energy holding company DTEK of Rinat Akhmetov (70% of the coal-fired generation in the Ukraine): "there were no new shipments from November 22, when Russia imposed restrictions on exports". DTEK says about 18 thousand tons of fuel, which should be delivered back in 2014, are on the border. "These residues gradually and with difficulty still comes to our heat power stations", - the company explained. According to it, in January-February contracts were concluded, DTEK is ready to accept up to 700 thousand tons per month, but the advance payment was returned. At the same time, on January 12 the head of the Ukrainain Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry Vladimir Demchishin claimed that in the period of January 1 to 11, the Ukraine received 70 thousand tons of coal from the Russian Federation.