Ukraine Faces a Cold Winter on Lack of Coal Supplies

Ukraine is likely to be dangerously short of coal this winter, according to Reuters. The country has already declared a state of emergency in its electricity market, and can’t get coal from Russia as Moscow has suspended exports.

As quoted in the publication:

While EU officials have spent months brokering a deal to try to avert a supply crisis following Russia’s cut-off of gas to Kiev in June, fighting in east Ukraine has shut down mines and rail links used for transporting coal to power plants.

Ukraine was self-sufficient in coal, producing more than 60 million tonnes last year, but since June separatist fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has halted production from 66 coal mines, leaving only 60 running, European coal association Euracoal said.

Andrey Favorov, managing director of energy investment company Energy Resources of Ukraine, said:

We have no energy reserves now, everything works on maximum and every technical problem can lead to sharp power cuts … The only way to avoid freezing this winter is to negotiate, to pull out politics: we need to look at buying coal from reliable traders, import coal from South Africa, Australia, Vietnam, other countries.

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