Public joint-stock company Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchuk, Poltava region) plans to increase crude oil refining at Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, acting head of the company Oleksiy Plakasov has said.

"We had a proposal that up to 300 workers be dismissed at the oil production facility, 20-30 workers per workshop each, but in these conditions we would not be able to allow [such a] large reduction of the workforce. We plan to increase oil refining and the situation in the country is not appropriate: if we dismiss people, this could worsen the social situation in the town," he told reporters on Friday.

He said that an international audit company recommended making around 600 employees redundant.

Plakasov also said that the recent increase in tariffs on oil pumping for Ukrtatnafta would result in an increase in the price of petrol at filling stations by UAH 0.10-0.30 per liter.

In 2014, the average number of full-time employees at Ukrtatnafta was 4,229 and 4,430 in 2013. The salary fund in 2014 amounted to UAH 306.606 million and UAH 273.387 million in 2013.