KIEV, Jan. 20 – Ukraine is planning to announce tenders to attract investors to develop the Oleske and Yuzovska shale gas fields by February 22, said Volodymyr Ivaschenko, an advisor to the ecology and natural resources minister.

KIEV, Jan. 20 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans to boost investments in Ukraine in 2009, said Olivier Decamps, head of the bank’s Southeast Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia business group.

KIEV, Jan. 20 - Fitch Ratings has downgraded Nadra Bank's Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CC' from 'CCC' while maintaining a Negative Outlook.

At the same time, the agency withdrew all of the bank's ratings due to insufficient information.

KIEV, Jan. 21 - The fundamental credit outlook for Ukrainian financial institutions is negative, reflecting the likelihood that the banks' financial fundamentals will continue to be negatively affected by the uncertainty in domestic and international financial markets, funding pressures, the steep depreciation of the Ukrainian hryvnia and a slowdown in economic growth, says Moody's Investors Service.

KIEV, Jan. 21 - Chornomornaftogaz has resumed an agreement with Ukrgazvydobuvannia on the development of the Odessa and Bezymenne offshore gas fields, the state company told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

KIEV, Jan. 21 - Metinvest, which brings together the iron ore and steel making assets of Ukraine's Donetsk-based System Capital Management (SCM), has obtained clearance from European Union anti-monopoly regulators to acquire controlling stakes in steel plate producers Trametal SpA of Italy and Britain's Spartan UK Ltd.

KIEV, Jan. 21 – Privat Group could sell around 42% of the shares in UkrNafta, the state oil extracting company in Ukraine, if the state does not conduct a balanced policy in the oil and gas sector, one of the largest co-owners of Dnipropetrovsk-based PrivatBank, Hennadiy Boholiubov, has said.

KIEV, Jan. 22 - Ukraine cannot avoid the impact of the global correction on the international stock markets, although a crisis on the domestic financial markets is not expected, according to bankers and experts polled by Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, Jan. 22 - Yuriy Myroshnikov, president of Kiev-based Ukraine International Airlines, said it is time for the state to unload most of its interest in his company.

KIEV, Jan. 22 ??“ Ukraine??™s new car sales, led by Western- and Asian-designed cars, rose by 39.7% on the year to 371,019 cars in 2006, AUTO-Consulting, a Kiev-based consultancy group, reported Monday.