Russian War Against Ukraine: Energy Dimension | DiXi Group Alert – weekly review
July 31 – August 6
Summary
— The damage to Ukraine’s energy system from Russian attacks is about 11 billion USD, the final amount could grow – so the Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko.
— According to the Security Service of Ukraine, Russia is preparing a large-scale false flag sabotage at the Mozyr Oil Refinery to drag Belarus into a full-scale war against Ukraine.
— The IAEA experts at the Zaporizhzhia NPP inspected the roofs of units 3 and 4 and found no explosive devices. At the same time, the mines that the mission noticed on the ZNPP territory on August 1 remained in the same place. The occupiers started “maintenance” of the reactor at unit 5 and are forcing the personnel to receive Russian passports under threats of repressions.
— 56 transformer substations destroyed by Russian shelling have already been restored, and another 7 are to be restored before the heating season starts – so the CEO of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
— The government has simplified procedures for the installation of mobile gas turbine units and related infrastructure, and removed bureaucratic obstacles to installing overhead power lines and substations.
— Electricity demand was covered by own production as well as imports from Slovakia (+21% WoW) and Moldova (-5%). August is predicted to be the most difficult month due to the further unavailability of power units under repair or maintenance.
— On August 6, due to an emergency (autotransformer at one of the 330 kV substations went off), 156,000 consumers were twice left without power supply in the Odesa region.
— The NEURC approved and published in order to receive feedback the draft resolution on the Procedure for Investigating Abuses in the Wholesale Energy Market.
— Gas imports gas by foreign traders for injection into storages is increasing. Commercial imports amounted to 274.1 mcm (+50% WoW), in particular 239.6 mcm in the “customs warehouse” regime. The average daily injection reached 60 mcm, almost 1 bcm of gas in storages is owned by non-residents.
— Ukraine Energy Market Observatory, created by the Energy Community Secretariat, provided its assessment of legislative and regulatory risks related to storing gas in Ukraine by nonresident companies, and respective recommendations.
— The parliament registered a resolution to cancel the decision to adopt the Law “On Optimizing the Ownership Structure of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine”. The sponsoring MPs refer to the Verkhovna Rada Procedure violation as the reason.
— The Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) announced the termination of asset management contracts with Naftogaz Oil Trading on the filling stations chain Glusco. The CEO of Naftogaz Oleksii Chernyshov claimed the company made 300 million UAH of investments.
— Sweden provided a 27 million EUR grant to support Ukraine’s energy sector through the Ukraine Energy Support Fund (UESF).
— Two senators introduced to the US Congress the Responding to the Energy Security Crisis in Ukraine and Europe (RESCUE) Act of 2023. This legislation is aimed at supporting and developing the energy infrastructure of Ukraine, as well as reducing the energy dependence of the EU countries on Russia, improving the diversification of energy sources, etc.