RECHITSA

also spelled Recica, city and centre of Rechitsa rayon (sector), Gomel oblast (province), Belarus, a port on the Dnieper River. The city dates from at least the 12th century, and it became an administrative centre in 1796. Rechitsa has furniture and engineering industries, including the manufacture of nails and pipes. Since 1964 it has been a centre of the petroleum industry based on the oil field on the left bank of the Dnieper. In the late 1970s, oil production from this field began to decline. Pop. (1991 est.) 69,400.