KIEV, Jan. 26 – Metal companies in Ukraine are competitive in the quality and cash cost of metal products they make, although they have large expenses on transportation due to high tariffs set by state monopolists, Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said on Ukraina TV.

KIEV, Jan. 26 - Ukraine's government has extended the current emergency regime in the country's electricity industry until the end of next month.

A government directive of January 14 published in the Uriadovy Kurier newspaper on January 24 gives the National Commission of Ukraine for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation extra powers in setting charges and boosts the authority of grid operator Ukrenergo in the transmission of electricity and the regulation of its consumption.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - The total sum of wage arrears in Ukraine rose 3% in December and more than tripled in 2014, the State Statistics Service reported.

According to the State Statistics Service, wage arrears on January 1, 2015 amounted to UAH 2.437 billion, or 7% of the monthly wage fund for December.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - The Ukrainian Security Service has reported anonymous threats to blow up hydropower and nuclear power plants.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - The Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau, the executor of a contract to supply new Ukrainian BTR-4 armored personnel carriers (APCs) to Iraq has not received official claims of the Iraqi consumer to the armored vehicles made under the contract, including a batch of 40 APCs that was returned to Ukraine after an eight-month idle period the Persian Gulf, Deputy Morozov Bureau Director Yuriy Volchenko said.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - Ukraine and an ExxonMobil-led consortium plan to sign production sharing agreement on tapping a Black Sea natural gas field in February, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytskiy said Monday.

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Jan. 24 – UAH 280 million is needed for the complete removal and disposal of hexachlorobenzene from a toxic waste landfill in Kalush (Ivano-Frankivsk region), of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration First Deputy Chairman Vasyl Plaviuk said.

KIEV, Jan. 24 – Ukrainian chemical companies cut production of titanium dioxide by 5.3% or 8,167 tons in 2012, to 145,640 tons, the Cherkasy state research and development institute of technical and economic information reported.

KIEV, Jan. 24 – The introduction of new restrictions by the National Bank of Ukraine and the Individuals' Deposit Guarantee Fund will complicate the attraction of public funds to the banking sector, the Ukrainian Credit-Banking Union said.

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Jan. 24 - Public hearings on shale gas production will take place in four districts of Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk region between January 30 and February 4.