Ukraine can’t guarantee gas storage and transit to Europe. - Alexander Novak, Russian minister

“Ukraine cannot guarantee supply of gas to European consumers, that is, its transit in the amount that is provided for in the contracts between Gazprom and European consumers,” Russian minister adds

Russia urged Europe to share responsibility for storing natural gas in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities, as Ukraine is unable to guarantee the transit of gas to Europe in necessary amounts, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said.

At trilateral consultations in Warsaw on May 2, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said his country could not guarantee the storage of necessary amounts of gas during summer for further transit to Europe.
“Therefore Ukraine cannot guarantee the supply of gas to European consumers, that is, its transit in the amount that is provided for in the contracts between Gazprom and European consumers,” the Russian minister said.
“This is very disturbing information and we think this is unacceptable. Urgent measures must be taken by both Ukraine and our European partners who are also an interested party and bear just as much responsibility for the transit of sufficient volumes of gas across Ukraine,” Novak said.
“We think the situation is becoming critical and urgent measures must be taken to resolve it,” he added.
According to Novak, at least 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas need to be held in underground gas storage facilities in wintertime. “Our estimates indicate that there are about 4-6 billion cubic metres of gas there now. This means that about 12 billion cubic meters of gas have to be pumped into the underground gas storage facilities in western Ukraine from May to September. That’s a rather large amount,” he said.

“The current volume of 4 billion cubic metres would not be sufficient to meet Ukraine’s own needs. Ukraine consumes about 50 billion cubic metres of gas a year. Of that amount about 20 billion are produced inside the country and 30 billion cubic metres or so are imported,” Novak said.
Prodan said earlier that the Ukrainian gas transit system would be incorporated into the European gas transportation system. “We can also use the possibilities of our underground gas storage facilities and hope that European gas companies will build up their reserves in our storage facilities,” he said.........http://en.itar-tass.com/economy/730339
3/5/14
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• Russia, EU, Ukraine fail to reach agreement at gas talks

State oil and gas company begins pumping gas into underground storages in Crimea

  The state-owned joint-stock company Chernomorneftegaz on Wednesday began pumping gas into underground storage facilities, Vadim Zhdanov, the first deputy minister of fuel and energy of Crimea, told a briefing.

“Crimea is fully supplied with natural gas and surplus volumes from today are being pumped into an underground storage facility. Last year, Crimea consumed 650 million cubic metres of gas, while the Chernomorneftegaz company produced 1.65 billion cubic metres of gas. With the development of the Odessa deposit and new wells beginning to yield gas within the year, we expect to produce over 2 billion cubic metres of gas in 2014, Zhdanov said.
He said surplus gas that accumulated in the summer period would be pumped into the storage facility to be used in winter. “Gas consumption in summer and winter varies considerably. About 2 billion cubic metres of gas a day is used in summer and from 7.5 to 9 million cubic metres in winter, depending on temperatures. With the temperature dropping below minus 20 degrees Centigrade gas consumption peaked to 12 million cubic metres a day,” he said.

Chernomorneftegaz increased gas output by 40.6% in 2013. The company plans to extract 3 billion cubic metres of gas annually by 2015.

Chernomorneftegaz is prospecting for hydrocarbons on the shelf of the Black Sea and Azov Sea and develops two gas condensate deposits, seven gas deposits and one oil deposit on the peninsula. The company serves 17 deposits and owns a gas transportation system and an underground gas storage facility.[itar-tass.com]
26/3/14

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‘Shameful’: World loses up to third of produced food, World Bank says

The world loses a staggering one-quarter to one-third of all food produced for human consumption, according to the World Bank’s quarterly Food Price Watch report, with the developed world leading the wastage.
The world is losing 25 to 33 percent of the food it produces – nearly 4 billion metric tons - according to estimates from the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) and the World Resources Institute.
In regions suffering from malnourishment, such as Africa and South East Asia, this translates as 400 to 500 calories per person per day and in the developed world up to 1,520 calories.

Cereals were highlighted as representing more than half food lost or wasted at 53 percent by calorie content, but by weight fruits and vegetables represent the largest share of global food loss at 44 percent.
Most of the wastage takes place at the consumption stage (35 percent), followed by production and handling and storage (both 24 percent).
“The amount of food wasted and lost globally is shameful,” Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, said in a statement.
“Millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night, and yet millions of tons of food end up in trash cans or spoiled on the way to market. We have to tackle this problem in every country in order to improve food security and to end poverty,” Kim added. 
The report also found a substantial difference between the amount of food lost in developed and developing countries and across regions. 56 percent of food loss takes place in the developed world and only 44 percent in developing countries.
In North America, some 61 percent of food losses are in the consumption stage, for example food, which has been bought and then rots in refrigerators. In the US and the UK and average family of four wastes between $1,600 and $1,100 a year in food they buy but do not consume.
The authors blamed the policies of large supermarkets, which encourage overbuying by consumers as well as overproduction of some foods for sale.
In contrast, sub Saharan Africa lost just 5 percent of food at the consumption stage but vast amounts were lost during production and processing.
For example, the large amounts of water used to irrigate rice or roast coffee were deemed wasteful, especially if the end product is lost before it reaches the consumer.
The study found that there were large variations across countries. Although in the short term, pressures in food prices are expected to weaken, weather conditions in Argentina, Australia and China, as well as higher oil prices, mean that food production will need constant monitoring.
The World Bank also set out how it intends to boost agriculture and agriculture-related investment; commitments in 2013 amounted to $8.1 billion.
Potential solutions to limit the amount of food wasted include changing agricultural production techniques and making suitable investments in transport and storage infrastructure as well as changing commercial and consumer behavior in developed countries. 
http://rt.com/news/world-food-waste-lose-068/
27/2/14
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Related:

• Παρά τη φτώχεια πετάμε φαγητό στα σκουπίδια 

• Στα σκουπίδια καταλήγει το 50% των τροφίμων / La moitié de la nourriture produite dans le monde gaspillée