KIEV, Oct. 19 - The Ukrainian government signed a Production Sharing Agreement with Vanco Energy, an independent U.S. oil company, for a major offshore oil and gas extraction project, the press service of the Ukrainian president reported Friday.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for energy complex Andriy Kliuyev and Gene Van Dyke, chairman and founder of Vanco, signed the PSA in Kiev in presence of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.