DTEK boosts coal output 73%, electricity 57% in 9M
MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) - DTEK boosted coal production 73% year-on-year in January-September, to 29.3 million tonnes, the Ukrainian energy company saaid in a statement.
Coal processing grew by 122.2% to 20.7 million tonnes.
Electricity output increased by 57.4% to 38.5 billion kWh and electricity purchases from the Wholesale Electricity Market increased 3.6-fold to 38.2 billion kWh.
"The improvement in DTEK's operating performance from January to September was supported by the consolidation of eleven new companies in late 2011 and 2012, and investments in production. According to unaudited data, DTEK's total capital investments in coal mines, processing plants, thermal power plants and electricity distribution companies for three first quarters of 2012 amounted to more than UAH 5 billion, twice as much as in the first three quarters of 2011. Investments were targeted at retrofitting the equipment of thermal power plants and coal mines. At the same time, a significant drop in electricity demand from steel plants, the main industrial consumers of DTEK's electricity in Donetsk, had a negative impact on the entire production chain," DTEK said.
"Electricity demands from mining and metallurgical enterprises dropped by 11% in 3Q 2012 compared to the same period of 2011," said DTEK's COO Yury Ryzhenkov. "This led to a decline in electricity generation and a corresponding reduction in demand for coal produced by private and state mines. We managed to mitigate the negative impact to a large extent by increasing electricity exports. Despite the fact that electricity exports as such bring losses to the company, they allow for exporting Ukrainian coal 'via transmission lines,' including state-produced coal, the quality of which is often unsuitable for export. Thus, the electricity exports extension by DTEK not only increased the currency earnings of Ukraine, but also supported significantly the domestic coal industry. By conducting modernization at its thermal power plants, DTEK is making the combustion of such coal less harmful for the environment."