Ukhta

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Ukhta (Russian: ), also spelled Uchta, is an important industrial city in the Komi Republic of northwestern Russia. Population: 103,340 (2002 Census).

Lying on the river of the same name, the settlement was founded as the village of Chibyu in 1929, but in 1939 it was renamed Ukhta. It received the town status in 1943 when it was linked to the Pechora Railway.

Ukhta lies within the Pechora River basin, an important oil and gas-producing region. Some of the Ukhta's oil is refined locally; most, however, is piped to oil refineries between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The city expanded in the 1940s and 1950s by use of political prisoners' forced labour.

On July 11, 2005, a gas explosion killed sixteen people in a shop. According to a police source the explosion was caused by a gas canister.

External links

	Cities and towns in the Komi Republic
	Capital: Syktyvkar Inta \| Mikun \| Pechora \| Sosnogorsk \| Ukhta \| Usinsk \| Vorkuta \| Vuktyl \| Yemva

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