Ukraine - Energy and power

Energy production in Ukraine has slowly declined since the 1970s, but consumption has intensified during the same period. Whereas Ukraine was nearly self-sufficient in fuel in 1975, by 1995 total Ukrainian energy production had fallen to less than half of consumption.

Total electricity production in 2000 amounted to 160.1 billion kWh, of which 49.5% was from fossil fuels, 7% from hydropower, and 43.44% from nuclear power. Consumption of electricity in 2000 was 151.7 billion kWh. Total capacity in 2001 was 53,700 million kW. In December 1992, Chernobyl's undamaged Reactor 1 was restarted, in order to provide much-needed electricity. On December 15, 2000, the last working reactor at the Chernobyl plant was shut down permanently. As of 2002, Ukraine had four nuclear power plants in operation.

Coal, primarily from the Donets Basin, has been a traditional resource for energy production. Since 1975, however, coal production has fallen by 30%. Production costs for coal have risen as easily accessible mines have been exhausted. Many mines now are either no longer economically viable or deteriorated and hazardous. Oil production peaked in 1972, at almost 300,000 barrels per day; by 2001, production had declined to 86,500 barrels per day. Natural gas production exceeded 68 billion cu m(2.4 trillion cu ft) in the mid-1970s, but had declined to 18 billion cu m by 2000, compared with consumption of 78.7 cu m the same year. At the beginning of 2002, Ukraine possessed 1.1 trillion cu m of proven natural gas reserves, or 0.8% of the world's total. Naftogaz Ukrainy, a new state-owned enterprise, was formed in 1998 by a merger of the existing state-owned oil and gas companies.

In 2000, 45% of primary energy consumption was provided by natural gas, 29.7% by coal, 12.1% by nuclear energy, and 11.5% by oil.