U.S.-based Trident Acquisitions Corp. has been recognized the winner of the tender for the development of the Dolphin hydrocarbon section on the Black Sea shelf on the basis of a production sharing agreement (PSA), company CEO and one of its shareholders Ilya Ponomarev has said.

"It was a difficult struggle, but our application was significantly more profitable for Ukraine," he said on Facebook.

Ex-State Duma deputy Ponomarev, to whom Petro Poroshenko granted Ukrainian citizenship in May of this year, thanked the government and personally Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk for the trust.

"We promise not to let you down and to do everything possible to start production as soon as possible!" he said.

As reported, on April 12, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers announced a tender for the development of hydrocarbons within the Dolphin section on the Black Sea shelf under PSA terms. The term of the agreement is 50 years.