KIEV, April 25 - Demand for rolled metal products in Ukraine fell 2.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012 to 1.693 million tons, Ukrainian Mining and Metallurgical Company, a major metals trader, reported.

KIEV, April 25 – Naftogaz Ukrayiny said it has opened envelopes in a tender for legal services to the holding in 2012 in Ukraine and other countries.

The state-owned company said that two companies submitted bids - Britain's Lawrence Graham LLP with the cost of services evaluated at $884,000 and Kiev-based Specht LLC with UAH 7.48 million.

KIEV, April 25 – If Ukraine had alternatives to natural gas supplies its negotiation process with Russia could be easier, Economic Development and Trade Minister Petro Poroshenko said.

KIEV, April 21 - Commercial oil and gas production on Ukraine's Black Sea shelf will commence no earlier than 2021, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

KIEV, April 21 – Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP is calling on the Ukrainian government to accelerate the procedure for issuing permits for exploration and the extraction of gas from alternative sources, Mikhail Slobodin, Executive Vice President, Gas and Power, at TNK-BP said.

KIEV, April 21 – China wants to create potash fertilizer production facilities in Kalush (Ivano-Frankivsk region) where OJSC Oriana potash fertilizer plant had operated until 2002.

KIEV, April 21 - Most Ukrainians oppose the construction of new nuclear power units, the Razumkov Center said in a poll report published by Dzerkalo Tyzhnia Ukraine weekly.

KIEV, April 22 – Price growth in Ukraine pushes further revaluation of the hryvnia real effective exchange rate, which cuts competitiveness of Ukrainian exporters, according to a posting on the Web site of the Ukrainian Economy Ministry.

KIEV, April 23 – The agreement on the cut of $100 in the gas price reached by the Ukrainian and Russian presidents will boost Ukraine's economy, according to experts polled by Interfax-Ukraine.

The director of energy programs of the Razumkov center Volodymyr Saprykin said that the discount on the gas price would considerably increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian industry.

KIEV, April 25 ??“ The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is going to buy a stake in the charter capital of a medium-sized Ukrainian bank, thus expanding its presence in Ukraine's banking sector.