KIEV, May 15 – The Odessa oil refinery, which is controlled by VETEK Group, plans to sign an agreement with Russia's Lukoil on deliveries of crude oil worth $1.98 billion from May 2013 to April 2014.

KIEV, May 15 - Ukraine, which seeks to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas imports, on Wednesday started imports of gas from Europe via Slovakia, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytskiy said.

KIEV, May 14 – The Zhydachiv Pulp and Paper Plant (Lviv region), a monopoly producer of newsprint in Ukraine, has stopped producing this type of paper due to the constant growth of prices of wood and tariffs on cargo transportation.

KIEV, May 14 - Group DF of Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, which owns four out six Ukrainian nitric producers, by the end of summer 2013 plans to boost the number of fertilizer storage facilities from 16 to 36.

KIEV, May 12 - The United States Department of Agriculture forecasts that grain harvest in Ukraine this year will amount to 43.35 million tons, 13.2% more than last year.

According to the USDA, the wheat harvest this year will grow by 12.8%, to 19 million tons, and forage by 13.6%, to 24.35 million tons.

KIEV, May 12 - The first tender to sell state stakes in energy generating companies and energy supply companies will be held in 2-2.5 months, said Oleksandr Riabchenko, head of the State Property Fund.

KIEV, May 12 - The price of Russian gas for Ukraine in the third quarter of 2011 could be $350 per 1,000 cubic meters and in the fourth quarter it could exceed $400 per 1,000 cubic meters, Kostiantyn Borodin, the deputy head of the oil, gas and oil processing industry department at the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry, said at the Ukrainian-Russian Economic Forum in Kiev on Thursday.

KIEV, May 12 – The 17th round of talks between Ukraine and the European Union on the creation of a free-trade area is scheduled for June 20-24 in Kiev.

"We are planning to hold the 17th round of the talks on June 20-24 in Kiev," First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Vadym Kopylov said on May 11 during parliamentary hearings on the current state and prospects for economic relations with the EU and the Customs Union.

KIEV, May 12 - Ukraine increased YTD electricity exports by 11.9% or 174.9 million kilowatt-hours through April 30, to 1.644 billion kilowatt-hours, the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry said.

KHARKIV, May 13 – Representatives of the trade union of entrepreneurs and a number of NGOs in Kharkiv have demanded that the government led by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resign and that early presidential elections be called.