KIEV, Jan. 16 - Ukraine moved a step closer to signing a production sharing agreement with Shell on extraction of shale gas after Donetsk local council voted on Wednesday to support the project.

The agreement was originally supposed to be signed by September 2012, but had been delayed due to opposition from local councils amid environmental concerns.

KIEV, Jan. 16 – Revenues to Ukraine's budget from privatization and state-owned property management in 2011-2014 will come to UAH 50-70 billion, the government has forecast.

KIEV, Jan. 16 - Ukraine will boost output of coal this year in order to reduce dependence on imports of Russian natural gas, the government said in a statement Monday citing Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko.

KIEV, Jan. 13 – Fitch Ratings has affirmed Naftogaz Ukrayiny's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'CCC,' the agency said in a statement on Friday.

Naftogaz's $1.595 billion government-guaranteed notes are affirmed at 'B' with a Recovery Rating of 'RR4'.

KIEV, Jan. 16 – The National Bank of Ukraine in 2011 sold $3.739 billion more than it bought on the interbank forex market, according to the central bank.

Over the year the central bank bought $9.918 billion and sold $13.657 billion, reads the posting.

KIEV, Jan. 14 - Denmark's H+H International will build a plant in Ukraine's Rivne region to produce porous concrete blocks, the regional administration said in a statement.

KIEV, Jan. 15 - Sales of new cars in Ukraine rose 46.2% to 542,000 vehicles in 2007, the Auto-Consulting group reported.

Sales in December jumped nearly 80% year-on-year to a new record of more than 61,000 new cars.

KIEV, Jan. 16 - Ukraine is 133rd among 157 countries in the 2008 index of economic freedom of the Heritage Foundation, the U.S. analytical center, and The Wall Street Journal, according to a posting on the official Web site of Heritage Foundation.

KIEV, Jan. 16 - Kiev-based Smart-Holding and Donetsk-based System Capital Management (SCM) plan to complete the merger of their mining and metallurgical assets by the second half of this year, director for strategy and corporate development at Smart-Holding Oleksiy Pertin told Delo newspaper Tuesday.

KIEV, Jan. 16 - Ukraine will most likely sell its major iron ore deposit later this year via a competitive tender, First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov said Wednesday.

The deposit, known as Kryviy Rih Oxidized Ore Mining Plant (KROOMP), is pursued by Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, but also by eyed by a rival Russian-Ukrainian steel consortium.