The Interdepartmental Commission supported the application of the Trident Black Sea to the Dolphin Shelf

Friday, 26 July 2019, the Interdepartmental Commission for Organization and Implementation of Production Sharing Agreements (PSA), supported by the majority of votes the Trident Black Sea’s application, and recommended the Government to recognize Trident as the winner in the competition for the development of the Dolphin area on the Black Sea shelf.
One may recall, the Interdepartmental Commission has received 4 applications for participation in the PSA competition on the Dolphin area on the Black Sea shelf, including :

• Caspian Drilling Company (daughter company of SOCAR, Azerbaijan).
• Frontera Resources (USA), as initiator of the competition tender.
• Trident Black Sea (90% interest of Trident Acquisitions Corp ( United States), 10%  interest of San Leon Energy PLC (Ireland). Key shareholder of Trident Acquisitions Corp. include Mr. Ilya Ponomarev, Ex-Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, and Mr. Gennady Butkevich with his 10% interest in the company. 
• PrJSC “MC "Ukrnaftoburinnya" is one of the largest private gas producers in Ukraine. 

Minister of Energy of Ukraine Ihor Nasalyk said that Caspian Drilling International had withdrawn its application, allegedly due to Russia's pressure, before announcing the winning company, the head of the Interdepartmental Commission. The Minister also said that the best application is from the American-based Trident Black Sea, both financially and politically. 

EXPRO Reference:
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine April 12, 2019, announced a competition for the development of hydrocarbons within the Dolphin area. The deadline for submitting applications was 60 days. The total area of the field is 9 496 sq. Km (excluding Odesa and Bezimenne  deposits,  Riftove, Gubkine, and Kulisne areas). The minimum amount of investments to be made during the first stage of exploration works is determined by the results of the competition, and should be not less than UAH 1.5 bln. For participation in the competition each company paid non-refundable UAH 300 thousand participation fee. The winner of the competition received the right to conclude the PSA for the Dolphin area for a period of 50 years with the possibility of extension in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Production Sharing Agreements".

By way of reminder, the Odesa Offshore Conference 2019, the international business matchmaking event in Odessa, scheduled for 26-27 September 2019 and aimed as a venue for meeting Ukrainian and foreign businesses with drilling contractors, oilfield service companies, and equipment suppliers. EXPRO Consulting suggests to interested domestic and international oil&gas companies take advantage of this opportunity and explore emerging partnerships in joint tapping of hydrocarbons in the Odesa region, the third prospective  onshore and offshore  oil&gas acreages in Southern Ukraine.