ODESSA, March 15 - An oil spill in the Black Sea off the coast of Odessa region should disappear soon all by itself, according to Oleh Zolotariov, the head of the department for environmental and radiation monitoring at the checkpoints of the State Environmental Protection Inspectorate of the North-Western region of the Black Sea.

DNIPROPETROVSK, March 17 –Turkey is reported to have discovered high levels of radiation in scrap metals supplied from Ukraine.

The director general of the Dnipropetrovsk-based Metallurgprom association of metal companies of Ukraine, Vasyl Kharakhulakh, said at a meeting of representative of mining and metal companies in Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday that the report has not been confirmed.

KIEV, March 15 – The National Environmental Investment Agency of Ukraine says that the country's sale of greenhouse gas emissions units could double in 2011 compared to last year.

KIEV, March 16 – The monetary emissions of central banks of the United States and European Union (EU) could prompt the hryvnia exchange rate to strengthen, according to Petro Poroshenko, head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine.

KIEV, March 16 – The World Bank supports the idea of setting up a bank for non-performing loans (NPLs) in Ukraine, according to Marius Vismantas, World Bank Financial Sector Coordinator for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova.

KIEV, March 17 – Naftogaz Ukrayiny plans to refine up to one million tons of Russian Urals crude oil at Lysychansk oil refinery (private JSC LINIK, Luhansk region) in 2011.

DNIPROPETROVSK, March 17 – International organizations such as the World Trade Organization are calling on Ukraine to cancel existing export duties on ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals.

KIEV, March 17 – Over CHF 5 million will go to funding the second stage of a Ukrainian-Swiss project aimed at improving the provision of public utility and social services in three regions of Ukraine – Vinnytsia, Sumy and Crimea, the head of the project in Ukraine Oksana Harnets, said during a conference devoted to decentralization in action held in Kiev on Tuesday.

KIEV, March 17 – U.S. Westinghouse's fuel assemblies have worked well over four years of exploitation at the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant and can be used as the basis for creating fuel for VVER-1000 reactors at Ukrainian NPPs, the press service of National Nuclear Generating Company EnergoAtom has reported, referring to the checks of six fuel assemblies conducted on March 12-14 with the participation of representatives of the producer company.

KIEV, March 14 - Naftogaz Ukrayiny will return to Swiss-based RosUkrEnergo AG the 1.4 billion cubic meters of Russian gas provided to Ukraine in January-February 2008, Naftogaz CEO Oleh Dubyna told a press conference in Kiev on Friday.