Two European financial agencies will loan Ukraine 308 million dollars to modernize portions of its natural gas transport system, dpa quoted officials as saying on Tuesday. Representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a letter of intent for the credit after meetings with senior officials from the Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz. The cash-strapped former Soviet republic promised in 2009 to reform its energy sector in two years, in a bid to obtain Western financing to overhaul its natural gas pipeline network, which dates back to the Soviet era. Reforms included highly unpopular hikes to utility prices. -- SPA
