KIEV, Nov. 15 ??“ Ukraine plans to hike 63.4% royalties on extraction of natural gas to 50 hryvnias ($9.9) per 1,000 cubic meters in 2007, according to a draft 2007 budget prepared by the finance ministry.

The plans led to an outcry from the country??™s major producers of natural gas that had warned the move if implemented would force them to postpone most of Black Sea offshore gas development projects.