Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Yulia Kovaliv speaks at an event to announce 600 internships for Ukrainian students affected by the Russian invasion in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
CP/NP-UN
Ukraine’s new ambassador to Canada has issued a call to Canadian oil and gas companies to help in the fight against Russia by entering and expanding into the European market.
Yulia Kovaliv made the remarks at the Global Energy Show in Calgary June 8, one day after presenting her credentials to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon in Ottawa and formally assuming the ambassadorship, reports The Canadian Press.
Kovaliv, whose speech was met with a standing ovation, thanked the government of Canada and Canadians for their support of her country since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24.
She said Europe needs Canadian energy to help replace the barrels that will be lost by 2023 when an EU embargo on Russian oil comes into effect.
“That is a big move,” Kovaliv said of the EU embargo, which was announced June 1. “It will be a significant challenge for the overall European continent.”
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia was exporting 7.8 million barrels per day of crude oil at the end of last year with 60 per cent of those exports going to Russia.
As a result of the war and the EU embargo, Russian oil production is expected to fall around 18 per cent from 11.3 million barrels a day to 9.3 million barrels a day by the end of next year, the EIA says.
The European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — has unveiled a US$315 billion plan to break away from reliance on Russian energy, a plan that includes everything from investments in energy efficiency to the build-out of wind, solar and hydrogen power.
“Canadian companies, we do think, should take the opportunity to enter and expand in the EU market,” Kovaliv said.
Canada’s oil and gas industry has previously said it can hike output by the equivalent of 300,000 barrels per day by the end of the year to help displace Russian fossil fuels in Europe.
However, that would help to replace less than five per cent of Europe’s gas imports from Russia and less than 10 per cent of its Russian oil imports.
Canadian oil and gas producers are enjoying record profits right now due to skyrocketing commodity prices. But the industry as a whole has so far been reluctant to significantly ramp up capital spending, preferring instead to pay down debt and pay dividends to shareholders.
The industry is also struggling with a labour shortage, which is impeding efforts to quickly ramp up capacity.
Canada also lacks the infrastructure to ship any oil or gas to Europe directly. Instead, Canadian barrels will have to travel through existing pipelines to the United States and then be shipped out through the Gulf of Mexico.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has previously said Canada is “very open to the discussion” about what else it can do to help, including the possibility of new terminals on the East Coast to export Canadian liquefied natural gas to Europe.
Yuliya Kovaliv was appointed Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada and arrived in Ottawa on March 29, 2022.
She has almost ten years of experience in executive positions in public administration and Ukraine’s investment promotion.
Prior to joining the Embassy Ambassador Kovaliv held the position of the Deputy Head of Office of the President of Ukraine in charge of economic policy development and IFIs coordination. She also served as the Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board of National State-Owned oil&gas company “Naftogaz of Ukraine” (2019-2021), the Deputy Secretary of the National Investment Council of Ukraine under the President Ukraine and the Member of the National Reform Council. In 2017-2019 Ambassador Kovaliv served as the Head of the Office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine under the President of Ukraine, advisory platform, which included global business leaders and IFIs, where she was in charge of investment promotion, policy dialog and FDI attraction.
In 2015-2016 Ambassador Kovaliv served as the First Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade overseeing reforms of privatisation, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, investment policy, liberalization of the energy sector and IP. In 2016-2017 she served as a Chairwomen of a newly-launched Supervisory Board of National State-Owned oil&gas company “Naftogaz of Ukraine”, aimed to bring governance of the biggest state-owned company to the OECD standards, open access to global financial markets and strengthen Ukraine’s energy security. In 2014-2015 Ambassador Kovaliv served as the Commissioner of the National Regulatory Commission for Energy and Utilities. Before joining the Regulator, Yuliya Kovaliv was in charge of public administration and energy sector reform coordination at the Coordination Center of Economic Reforms.
Prior to her career in the public sector Ambassador Kovaliv spent 6 years working in the private sector.
Yuliya Kovaliv was born in Ivano-Frankivsk. She holds a Master of Economics from the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and a Master of Public Administration from the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
Ambassador Kovaliv is married with two children.
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