You're reading: Yanukovych: Ukraine to increase its own gas production

Ukraine will continue increasing its own gas production, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said. 

“We’ve started to cut our gas consumption by replacing it by other energy sources and increased our own gas production. This is the only path and it’s the one we’ve taken,” he said at a meeting with the candidates for chairmanship of district state administrations, according to the presidential press service.

“Why are we doing this? It’s because we are protecting ourselves, we are protecting our economy,” Yanukovych said.

The head of state said the price Ukraine has to pay for gas today “is too high.”

“We have to pay the highest gas price in the world. If we add this price to the prime cost of our products, then our enterprises will become noncompetitive. Our products for export won’t have markets for sale,” the president said.

Yanukovych also said that today Ukraine is implementing a number of projects to replace natural gas by burning its own coal.

“We have begun replacing gas with coal and coal mixtures. We’ve removed gas from power generation. We have practically eliminated gas in the metals sector. This year we will begin building capacity to produce synthetic gas from coal,” he said, noting that coal production has increased accordingly.

Ukraine will also work to raise competitiveness in the global arena.

“The winner will be the one with competitive prices, quality products and services,” he said.

Yanukovych said there was a need to boost the production of high value-added products.

“The more products with value added, the better the financial result. We must always keep that in mind.”

Moreover, Ukraine must reduce its reliance on imported goods, he said.

“We must constantly work to reduce imports and increase exports. Increasing exports means supporting our domestic producers,” he said.

Another priority is improving the terms for doing business in Ukraine and creating a favorable investment climate.

“If we create mechanisms for this state policy, investors will come. They will feel like they’re protected,” he said.