You're reading: Ukrgazvydobuvannia, Chornomornaftogaz again fail to sell 44,270 tonnes of gas condensate at auction

  Public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia and state-run enterprise Chornomornaftogaz have failed to sell 44,270 tonnes of gas condensate on the second try on the Persha Nezalezhna Birzha exchange (Kyiv), reads a bulletin posted on the exchange's Web site.

The additional auction scheduled for June 26, 2013 failed to take place due to absence of bids.

Chornomornaftogaz and Ukrgazvydobuvannia were unable to sell 5,000 and 39,270 tonnes of gas condensate respectively. A starting price of a tonne of gas condensate was Hr 7,194. Chornomornaftogaz also put up 1,500 tonnes of oil at the June 26 auction at a starting price of Hr 6,906 per tonne.

As reported, referring to a source, production at Shebelynka gas refinery (Kharkiv region) from July 1, 2013 will stop due to the non-prolongation of standards for the production of Euro-2 and Euro-3 fuel. Ukrgazvydobuvannia, which operates the Shebelynka gas refinery, debuted at the exchange auctions to sell gas condensate.

Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky on June 26, 2013 said that the Ukrainian government will pin the prolongation of the term of Euro-3 fuel standard down within one month. The minister said that Shebelynka gas refinery will not be idle due to its technical inability to produce Euro-4 and Euro-5 fuel. The minister said that the gas refinery is currently undergoing repairs.

The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has drawn up draft technical regulations on the requirements to petrol, diesel fuel, ship and boiler fuel, although the document has not yet been approved by all the required state agencies. According to the document, the Euro-3 fuel standards will be prolonged until Dec. 31, 2015 and Euro-4 fuel standards – until Dec. 31, 2017.

Ukraine has repeatedly rescheduled the complete transfer to the Euro 4 and Euro 5 fuel quality standards. The effect of the outdated standards, which correspond to the Euro 2 and Euro 3 requirements, was prolonged in July 2011, Jan. 2012 and July 2012.

In 2012, Shebelynka gas refinery cut gas condensate refining by 2.5% on 2011, to 663,400 tonnes. Petrol output fell by 4 percent, to 375,200 tonnes, fuel oil output – by 1.2 percent, to 67,200 tonnes, while diesel fuel output grew by 0.8 percent, to 178,600 tonnes.

Shebelynka gas refinery is operated by public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia, which is 100 percent owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy.