Russian War Against Ukraine: Energy Dimension (daily updating DiXi Group alert) 

March 2

Summary

— On the evening of March 1, the Russian military launched missiles at civilian and critical infrastructure in the Kremenchuk district of the Poltava region. Ukrenergo confirmed damage to distribution networks in the Poltava and Sumy regions.

— Exports of electricity could resume in a week, given no significant deterioration of the situation – so the Supervision Board member of Ukrenergo Yurii Boyko.

— The President Volodymyr Zelenskyi chaired an extended meeting to discuss the future operation of the power system. The current tasks include completing the heating season and preparing for the next one, as well as working to protect the system.

— The NEURC adopted a decision on the preliminary certification of the gas storage operator (Ukrtransgaz). 

— The CEO of Naftogaz Oleksii Chernyshov believes that, with domestic gas production at 18.5 bcm (which includes the planned increase in production of Ukrgazvydobuvannya by 1 bcm) imports may not be necessary. The company will concentrate on the development of assets in western Ukraine and additional 3D seismic surveys.

— Naftogaz will report a 40 billion UAH loss in 2022 – Chernyshov. He associated such financial results with significant accounts receivable: debts for the difference in tariffs (36 billion UAH), debts of DSOs (76 billion UAH), financial gaps due to the performance of public service obligations (158 billion UAH).

— Naftogaz is not going to return 17 billion UAH of the legacy debts of DSOs to GTSOU. The settlement should be carried out within the framework of legislative initiatives and laws that are actually being developed – Chernyshov.

— The Appellation Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court annulled the decision of the court of first instance and imposed a preventive measure (229.248 million UAH bail) to Andrii Kobolyev, the ex-CEO of Naftogaz.

— The govenment amended the action plan to prevent the abuse of undue influence by oligarchs. The development of a draft law on regulating the security of electricity and natural gas supply was postponed until April 2023. The amendments assume an update of the Energy Security Strategy, while the assessment of the level and threats to energy security has been postponed to December 2023.

— Ukraine has received a powerful autotransformer from Lithuania. Its transportation was the largest logistics operation ever coordinated by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.