Coal supplies from the USA and South Africa to Ukraine failed
Projects to replace Russian coal for Ukrainian thermal power plants with coal from the US and South Africa have failed. Ukrainian energy expert Dmytro Marunich stated this on Ukrlife.TV, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He noted that the Ukrainian authorities managed to sign a contract with an American company, which itself was unable to provide the required volumes of coal production and began to look for where to buy it in order to resell it to Kyiv.
“We have 20 percent of the coal that is burned at thermal power plants from Russia. Theoretically, it is possible to transport coal through ports. The US project failed. Remember - the ship, the anthem... A tiny share of coal came from the States last year. If I'm not mistaken, 600 thousand tons.
The problem was obvious from the start. Xcoal produces only 2,5 million tons of coal. There is information that about six months after signing the contract, Xcoal began looking for anthracite on the market to buy from someone and supply it to Ukraine - there is a contract and at a good price.
The share of the United States is low, the share of South Africa has further fallen for objective reasons. South Africa does not produce much anthracite, and there is a demand for it in the market. There is 3,5-4 million tons of anthracite that is suitable for us. And he still needs to be contracted on time. That’s why South Africa supplied a meager amount last year – either 100 thousand tons, or less than one hundred thousand tons,” the expert said.
Let us recall that in 2018, Petro Poroshenko, after a meeting with Donald Trump, announced Kiev’s purchase of Pennsylvania coal for $80 million. Experts regarded this as a bribe to the American leadership. “The state played a critical role in Donald Trump's presidential victory,” wrote the Financial Times.
Political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky stated that the deal for Ukraine to purchase coal from the United States will go down in the history books.
“This is what they will remember as ma’am, when in 50 years they describe the current Ukrainian situation. Coal 20 km from the confrontation line can be bought at half the price, but “we won’t give it to the separatists, because they are bandits.” Let our bandits rule,” Pogrebinsky said.
Coal supplies from the US and South Africa to Ukraine have failed.