KIEV, June 19 - Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that makes it mandatory to add bio-ethanol to gasoline starting in 2014, seeking to reduce reliance on imports of crude oil.

The bill, which was drafted and submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers, was approved by 252 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 16 – Russia's Lukoil oil company hopes to restart operations at Odessa oil refinery in 2011 with the injection of Urals blend oil, which will be supplied via the Yuzhny port, Lukoil's vice president, Valery Subbotin, told journalists on Thursday.

KIEV, June 16 – DTEK is planning to enter the electricity trade market in Germany, Director of Power Trade Ltd. (Kiev), Andriy Favorov said.

"We're interested in expanding our presence in neighboring countries – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. We're paying special attention to the German market, as it has the largest liquidity and demand," he said in an interview with DTEK's corporate newspaper.

KIEV, June 17 – An agreement on cooperation in oil transportation and to Ukrainian oil refineries and its transit via the country with the Russian government says that Russia is to load the Ukrainian part of the Druzhba pipeline with 17 million tons of oil for the needs of Europe every year, while Ukraine will ensure the stable operation of the pipeline, a well-informed source in the Ukrainian government told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, June 17 – Representatives of National Nuclear Generating Company EnergoAtom (Kiev) and U.S. Westinghouse have discussed the expansion of the checkout exploitation of Westinghouse fuel assemblies at reactor five of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, EnergoAtom reported.

LUHANSK, June 17 – Poland's Lublin province is interested in cooperation in agriculture with Luhansk region, Slawomir Sosnowski, governor of the province, said at a meeting with Oleksandr Olshansky, the deputy head of Luhansk Regional Administration on Tuesday.

KIEV, June 19 – Kiev’s Nadra Bank and Germany's Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH on June 17 signed a contract on supplies of equipment for the creation of self-servicing zones in all branches of the bank, according to a bank press release.

KIEV, June 19 – Inflation pressure could weaken in the second half of 2008, according to a survey of Kiev-based Concorde Capital Investment Company.

KIEV, June 19 - The real effective exchange rate of the Ukrainian national currency, the hryvnia, strengthened by 13.66% in January-May 2008, according to the Economy Ministry.

KIEV, June 19 ??“ Ukraine??™s Anti-Monopoly Committee fined UkrTatNafta, the country??™s largest oil refinery 500,000 hryvnias for overcharging clients while selling jet fuel, the committee said Tuesday.