Daily monitor

On August 21, 222.6 thsd mt of crude oil were sold at Resources Auction 120, which took place on the floor of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange. According to official UICE information, the average price of oil was UAH 3,878 per mt, or USD 95.8 per bbl (excluding VAT, at USD/UAH 4.6005).

The Metinvest Group got approval at a public hearing of its plan to construct a coal transloading terminal in Sevastopol. The Group’s stevedore company, Avlita, plans to invest USD 170 mln (including USD 30 mln allocated for ecology-related items) into construction of the transloading terminal.

Wholesale electricity price for September 2008, set by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), increased 4% compared to August, reaching USD 76.2 per MWh. Thus a YtD tariff increase for January-September 2008 has reached 35.7% in local currency (UAH).

According to the official web site of the State Enterprise National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom, it and the concern Alstom discussed the possibility of modernizing the rotors and condensers for the turbines of Ukrainian NPPs.

As reported by the press service of Sumy Frunze Machine Building [SMASH UZ, N/R] on Thursday, August 21, the company will deliver exhaust-heat boilers and steam condensers to Alchevsk ISW [ALMK UZ, BUY]. The value of the contract is USD 12.2 mln.

On August 20, the Kyiv Municipal Commission on Transport and Communications began a review of its subway development program for 2008-2011.

On August 20, Kryukiv Railcar [KVBZ UZ, BUY] agreed to supply 1,000 gondola railcars to the company Arcelor Mittal Krivoi Rog (Dnepropetrovsk Region). The contract intends to be accomplished by April 2009.

On August 12, the Economic Court of the Lviv Region declared the bankruptcy of the Zhidachev Pulp and Paper Mill [ZCPK, N/R], a major producer of newsprint and cardboard, and set out the terms for the liquidation procedure.

The new sugar season will begin on September 2008. Only 64 sugar plants will be able to process sugar beet this season. That is the lowest rate witnessed in the last ten years. The shrinking sugar offer will drive sugar prices up.

Ukrnafta [UNAF UZ, Strong BUY] reported, in an official press release, the launch of an oil and gas well that is currently the most productive in Ukraine. The well’s parameters: oil, 170-250 tpd (60-90 thsd tpa); gas, 140-250 thsd cbm per day (50-90 mln cbm per annum).