Ukraine shows signs of opening energy sector to investors

Some analysts have described the current state of affairs a golden opportunity. While Ukraine has made some progress in recent years in encouraging alternative energy production through wind and solar projects, experts say the only way to wean the country off expensive energy supplies from Russia is to attract foreign investment and expertise.

There are signs that Ukraine’s government is finally starting to listen and may be prepared to open up the energy sector, long monopolized by powerful oligarchic groups, to major international energy giants.

Those foreign companies that haven’t been deterred from facing years of barriers from operating in Ukraine may finally find more luck in developing unconventional gas resources, such as shale and methane gas, or investing in the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

At the moment, none of the potential deals have progressed further than preliminary discussions, indications of interest and the signing of non-legally binding memorandums of understanding. But such unexpected activity in the energy sector has prompted many experts in Ukraine and abroad to claim that the government has finally seen the light.

Hurricane Sandy was a tropical cyclone that devastated portions of the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, and Eastern Canada in late October 2012. The eighteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, as measured by diameter, with winds spanning 1,100 miles (1,800 km).^[4][5] Sandy is estimated in early calculations to have caused damage of at least $20 billion (2012 USD).^[6] Preliminary estimates of losses that include business interruption surpass $50 billion (2012 USD), which, if confirmed, would make it the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane in history,^[7] behind only Hurricane Katrina.

Sandy developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, quickly strengthened and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Sandy six hours later. Sandy moved slowly northward toward the Greater Antilles and gradually intensified. On October 24, Sandy became a hurricane, made landfall near Kingston, Jamaica, a few hours later, re-emerged into the Caribbean Sea and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane. On October 25, Sandy hit Cuba, then weakened to a to Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 26, Sandy moved through the Bahamas,^[8] and later began exhibiting both tropical and extratropical characteristics.^[9] On October 27, Sandy briefly weakened to a tropical storm and then restrengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 29, Sandy curved north-northwest and became an extratropical cyclone, then^[10] moved ashore near Atlantic City, New Jersey.^[11]

In Jamaica, winds left 70% of residents without electricity, blew roofs off buildings, killed one, and caused about $55.23 million (2012 USD) in damage. In Haiti, Sandy's outer bands brought flooding that killed at least 52, caused food shortages, and left about 200,000 homeless. In the Dominican Republic, two died. In Puerto Rico, one man was swept away by a swollen river. In Cuba, there was extensive coastal flooding and wind damage inland, destroying some 15,000 homes, killing 11, and causing $2 billion (2012 USD) in damage. In The Bahamas, two died amid an estimated $300 million (2012 USD) in damage.

In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected at least 24 states, from Florida to Maine and west to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city.^[12][13] It is having various political effects in the United States.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14