KIEV, March 13 - Ukraine on Wednesday denied media reports that it faces problems with building a $1 billion liquefied natural gas terminal, and said the project will be accelerated.

Serhiy Yevtushenko, the head of the LNG-terminal project, responded to a report in Kommersant daily suggesting the project had failed to raise 221.9 million euros in loans.

Yevtushenko said the loans were cancelled because the government had decided to go with a cheaper option of renting an offshore-based plant rather than building a more expensive on-shore facility.