Inside News on Odessa and Ukraine
I will immediately steer clear of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2012, which unsurprisingly ranks Ukraine at 144th and perceived as corrupt, simply because that will grab the mainstream headlines. Ukraine still perceived as corrupt shocker - blah blah blah - not news at all! Instead I will bring to your attention the 2012 […]
This year, the combined heating and power plants (CHP’s) for Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson are all due to be privatised. None of which seems likely between now and the end of the year due to the tender process and the clauses within the tenders. Amongst the clauses are the conversion of the plants from […]
Following on from yesterday’s post relating to the continuing successful low profile dealings between the EU and Ukraine, whilst the high profile bickering continues, on the same day the technical bits of the DCFTA were finally agreed and initialed (19th July), the first really serious negotiations relating to EU and Ukrainian environmental issues took place. […]
Two days ago on twitter (@Odessablogger) I was asked two very good questions. One by my scholarly chum @Aghidel relating to the pros and cons of Ukraine’s WTO entry, I suspect in light of Russian entry this week, and another about “greening Ukraine”. My thoughts about the benefits (or not) of WTO membership of Ukraine […]
Way back when Adam was just a lad and hadn’t even thought of Eve, I moved to Odessa from Moscow. At least it seems that long ago. As a civil engineer with, then, broken Russian language ability and knowing nobody, I had to find something to do with my time. I bought a number of […]
As you will know, back in 2010 I mentioned the real possibility of a LNG terminal being built on the Black Sea. I then put my money on a place called Yushni in Odessa. I revisited the issue in April 2012 as matter progressed somewhat with the upstream planning, my money still firmly on Yushni […]
Currently within the ever disintegrating and incoherent EU, battle has been drawn along numerous lines between the European Commission, European Parliament and European Council. Amongst the most recent is alternative energy, green economies and resource efficiency. Not exactly headline news considering the 4 year old and continuing fiscal calamity within the EU, the democratic deficit […]
Although you won’t remember, in March 2011, I told you about Ukraine’s first wind farm. Yes I know it was a very short post, but as it said, it was a start. Well since then alternative energy has progressed somewhat in Ukraine. Solar, hydroelectric bio-fuelled CHPs and wind. A lot of investment is going into […]
You will remember back in early March I mentioned a cunning plan from the government of Ukraine to buy gas from RWE in Germany and reverse the flow of sections of the transport system in order to import it, thus reducing the amount of contractually very expensive Russian gas? Well, Naftogas Ukraine has quietly signed […]
The Ukrainian loss making State owned behemoth that is Naftogaz Ukraine is about to get broken down, reorganised but not, as the EBRD have stated is necessary over the years, privatised. Actually that may not be quite accurate, there are certain parts of Naftogaz that are now legally banned from privatisation and others that quite […]