American Trident Acquisitions Corp, winner in the tender for hydrocarbon exploration under a production-sharing agreement (PSA) within the Dolphin Block of the Black Sea's continental shelf, said would prepare a court claim in case if the tender results are annulled by the Cabinet of Ministers.

"I, the other way round, bear responsibility for money, which Trident can lose if the results of the bids are cancelled (it's clear that funds were raised for bidding) and I will have to appeal to court to uphold a justice. It's obvious that until the end of the courts foreign players won't come to the new bids and development of this meaningful for the state resource will shift to two-three years," wrote Trident CEO Ilya Ponomarev on Facebook.

He said that if the Ukrainian authorities are longing for involvement of a big international company in this project, then Trident is ready to discuss the ways of doing that.

"We want to try again and offer a compromise to the government of Ukraine: it accepts the results of the bids, meanwhile Trident committed to find a way to attract a large international company through a mechanism appropriate for the government during the time the talks on the final contract will last (so far we won only the right to sign it, which is to happen within a year from the moment the Cabinet of Ministers approves the results of the competition). In this case, all our investment obligations will remain, the site will be developed in time, all proposals of the country's leadership will be fulfilled," Ponomarev said.

He said he doubts that big international oil and gas companies again will participate in the bids since they have interests in Russia.

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.

On July 26, CEO and one of the shareholders of American Trident Acquisitions Corp. Ilya Ponomarev announced that the interdepartmental commission under the Ministry of Energy and Coal recognized the company he headed as the winner of the competition, recalling that the decision should be approved by the Cabinet of Minister

On July 27, Ukrainian Premier Volodymyr Groysman announced that he intends to offer the Cabinet to consider the possibility of announcing a new tender for the development of the said hydrocarbon section on the Black Sea shelf.