KIEV, March 15 - Oil production in Ukraine decreased by 2% or 7,700 tons year-on-year in January-February, to 384,400 tons, the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry reported.

Production of gas condensate rose 3.6% or 5,600 tons, to 159,200 tons.

KIEV, March 16 - Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) is planning in early April to start building a biogas facility on the basis of private joint-stock company Oril-Lider in Dnipropetrovsk region, the project head, Oleksandr Dombrovsky, said in Kiev.

KIEV, March 17 - The share of bad credits in the total amount of loans extended by Ukrainian banks in February 2010 grew by 0.3 percentage points, to 9.6% by March 1, 2010, the National Bank of Ukraine reported.

KIEV, March 18 - TNK-BP, a Russian oil major, plans to invest $137 million to upgrade its Ukrainian oil refinery and gasoline stations in 2010, TNK-BP’s Ukrainian subsidiary reported Thursday.

KIEV, March 16 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has taken various rating actions on Ukrainian local and regional governments (LRGs) because of its upgrade of the sovereign on March 11.

KIEV, March 16 – Ukraine in January and February increased electricity exports by 57.2% or 358.7 million kWh compared to January-February 2009, to 985.9 million kWh, the Fuel and Energy Ministry has told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, March 17 – A jump in the price of raw materials for the metals sector will be seen in 2010 compared to last year, and the price of iron ore will rise by 45% on average, the price of coking coal by 55% and the price of scrap metal by 25-30%, sector experts have predicted.

KIEV, March 18 – The pace of industrial production in Ukraine is being impacted by the fall in demand on the domestic market, the loss of foreign markets and restrictions in access to credit, according to a report by the Economy Ministry.

LONDON, March 18 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ukraine's Long-term foreign and local Issuer Default ratings (IDR) at 'BB-' (BB minus) with Positive Outlooks, the agency said in a press release.

The agency has also affirmed the Country Ceiling at 'BB-' (BB minus) and the Short-term IDR at 'B'.

KIEV, March 17 – AvtoKrAZ Holding Company (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), Ukraine's sole producer of large hauling vehicles, announced it has completed the certification of a 6x4 KrAZ-65055 dump truck in Saudi Arabia.