KIEV (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian embassy in the United States announced the first coal shipment under the agreement between US Xcoal Energy & Resources and Ukrainian Centrenergo on August 21.
Chaly explained that the Ukrainian side initially hoped to get 85,000 tonnes of US coal in the first shipment, but the senders managed to find only a smaller vessel for 62,000 tonnes.
"I attended the loading of the vessel together with the US high-ranked officials. The vessel with the US coal left the Port of Baltimore last week, it will sail for about three weeks, thus we can expect its arrival to Port Yuzhnyi by the middle of September," Chaly said.
The next shipment of around 120,000 tonnes is set to arrive in Ukraine in early October, the diplomat noted, adding that one or two deliveries of the US coal to Ukraine can be held on the monthly basis.
"Under the contract, the supply of 700,000 tonnes of anthracite coal from the United States can be expected," Chaly pointed out.
In February, the Ukrainian authorities declared an energy emergency following the blockade of the territories of the eastern Donbass region beyond Kiev’s control, which led to irregularities in deliveries of anthracite coal from the region.
Meanwhile, the US has hiked the coal prices. Since January, Kiev has been buying American coal at $206 per short ton, while the price in 2016 was $76. However, coal shipments from the US to Ukraine have more than doubled, 865,000 tons in the first quarter of 2017 against 355,000 in the same period last year.
