What's Behind Poroshenko's Push for US Coal

In an interview with Sputnik, Russian expert Alexey Belogoryev commented on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's recent statement of Kiev's interest in buying coal and gas from the United States, which Belogoryev said indicates Kiev's push for diplomatic overtures towards US President Donald Trump.

On June 20, Poroshenko sat down with Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence in Washington to discuss, among other things, the possibility of buying American coal from Pennsylvania instead of Donbass coal.

"We continued [to discuss] with Vice President Pence and President Trump our cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, cooperation in the oil and gas sector, the purchase of American coal from Pennsylvania, our cooperation on renewable energy sources and the support of the Unites States for reforms in all sectors, including the energy one," the Ukrainian news website Ukrinform quoted Poroshenko as saying.

Earlier, Ukrainian radicals blocked the supply of coal from eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, which resulted in Kiev introducing emergency measures in the country's energy sector on February 17.

Speaking to Sputnik, Alexey Belogoryev, deputy head of the Moscow-based Institute of Energy and Finance, recalled that the United States is now grappling with problems pertaining to the sale of its coal and gas.

That is why the goal of President Poroshenko's statement was to "say some pleasant things" for the US President, according to Belogoryev.

"I would see this statement as a sort of courtesy [gesture] toward Trump, who has repeatedly stressed the need to develop his country's gas and coal industry. The US has yet to supply to other countries its free volumes of coal and gas that they have recently obtained. In this vein, Poroshenko's proposal can be called a 'goodwill gesture' with regard to the Trump Administration," Belogoryev said.

In his opinion, Poroshenko's statement is primarily aimed at the internal audience in the United States.

"This statement was mainly made for the internal audience of the United States, and, of course, Ukraine, which is constantly provided with news on 'getting rid of Russian dependence'," he pointed out.

Belogoryev also said that the US directly delivering its liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Ukraine will be a tricky task, given the fact that "the Bosporus and the Dardanelles are one of the most congested straits in the world."

"So the only option is to use terminals on the territory of Poland or the Baltic States, from which the LNG will be supplied to Ukraine," he added.

"Logistically, this will be possible, but the price tag of all this will certainly be an issue. In this case, one thousand cubic meters of such LNG will cost about 70 dollars more than Russian gas at its current prices in Europe," Belogoryev concluded.

In 2016, Ukraine received anthracite from Russia and South Africa, which supplied 566.7 thousand tons and 366.6 thousand tons, respectively.

Against the backdrop of the continuing trade blockade of Donbass, Russia remained the largest supplier of coal to Ukraine following the results of the first quarter of 2017.

Earlier this month, the Russian Energy Ministry said that deliveries of coal from Russia to Ukraine in January-May amounted to 4.25 million metric tons, with a total of about 10 million tons expected by the end of 2017.

According to the ministry, as of the end of May, 4,250,000 tons of coal were shipped to Ukraine in 2017 so far, and in 2016 the figure was 10,110,000 tons.

"We are expecting the same volumes [in 2017], about 10 million tons," Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky confirmed in an interview with Sputnik on the sidelines of a Russia-EU energy cooperation forum in Berlin.