Coal news and updates

Ukrainian government orders more coal stocks by Oct 15 winter start

The Ukrainian government has issued a resolution ordering the accumulation of more coal ahead of the winter, reflecting its serious concerns about power shortages in the country, the government's press service reported Thursday.

The resolution calls for the accumulation of 3.2 million mt of coal by October 15, up from an original target of 3 million mt.

The new figure includes 1.4 million mt of anthracite, a type of coal that is most widely used by Ukrainian power plants, up from a 1 million mt target originally.

The resolution is part of measures needed to prepare the energy sector for the 2015-2016 winter," the press service reported.

Ukraine is lagging behind in accumulation of coal with two-thirds of its coal mines forced to close over the past 12 months due to an armed conflict in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The greater reserve targets suggest that Ukraine will significantly step up imports of coal in coming months.

Coal reserves at Ukraine's coal-burning power plants fell 0.9% on the week to 1.307 million mt as of Monday, according to UkrEnergo, a company that runs the country's power grid.

Ukraine's reserves of anthracite coal rose to 558,100 mt as of Monday, compared with 542,200 mt as of August 3, UkrEnergo said.

Anthracite has the highest calorific content and cannot be easily replaced with other types of coal. Most of Ukraine's anthracite coal mines are in Donetsk and Luhansk.

The low level of coal reserves recently triggered concerns from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk that Ukraine may face serious power shortages in the winter, when demand for energy accelerates.

The resolution comes after an emergency meeting of the government last week dedicated to solving the most pressing energy sector problems ahead of the 6-month high-demand seasons that is due to begin on October 15.

Ukraine was usually storing about 4.5 million mt of coal each year by the October 15 deadline before the conflict with pro-Russian separatists erupted last year.

source: http://www.platts.com