Russia will cease exporting thermal coal to Ukraine from Nov. 1, Ukraine’s parliamentary energy committee head Andriy Gerus announced on Telegram on Oct. 28.
“Such Russian actions are similar to those in the fall of 2014,” said Gerus, referring to Russia’s move to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in 2014 after annexing Crimea and starting a war in the Donbas.
Six Ukrainian power plants are importing Russian coal at the moment, according to Gerus’ post.
Three of these are small combined power and heating plants run by private company Tekhnova, while two are larger power stations run by Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK, and one by privately owned Donbasenergo.
Gerus said that he was informed by market participants that imports of Russian coking coal, used in steelmaking, were still ongoing.
Russia’s move follows China’s increase in purchases of Russian coal: it bought 3.7 million tons in September, 28% up from August and 230% up from the same time in 2020.
Coal shortage
Ukraine entered the cold season with perilously low coal reserves. According to the Ministry of Energy, as of Oct. 25, power plants and heating stations had just 710,000 tons of coal in their stockpiles, a quarter of the amount that the government planned to have by this date.
Due to the coal shortage, 24 blocks at thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 8.5 gigawatts have stopped generating electricity, Ukrenergo reported on Oct. 25.
“The situation with the accumulation of coal is deteriorating,” Ukrenergo warned. “Coal reserves in thermal power plants warehouses are extremely low.”
The cause of the shortage is the skyrocketing global price of coal caused by a deficit in China and a wider spike in fossil fuel prices. According to the online publication Business Insider’s index, the price of coal has grown 230% since mid-April, when the heating season ended in Ukraine.
Despite having the eighth-largest proven coal reserves in the world, Ukraine has been a net importer of fossil fuel for years due to the deteriorating quality and high cost of coal being dug up by badly run, unprofitable mines.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2019 Ukraine imported 45% of its coal, and 70% of that came from Russia.
