JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia has completed the first round of a tender for signing an agreement under the PEC (production enhancement contract, contract for a comprehensive increase in gas production) in the western region of the country, the company's press service has said.

According to the report, after considering the proposals, it was decided to conduct commercial negotiations with Romania's Expert Petroleum Solutions SRL and China's consortium of companies XinJiang Beiken Energy Engineering and Oil Engineering Zhongshi Shengli.

"Our goal is to increase the volume of marketable gas, but most of the gas production fields are depleted. This is especially true for the western region. That is why we decided to attract partners and started the PEC tender. Additional investments, technical and managerial expertise, advanced intensification technologies will allow increasing the efficiency of residual reserves of depleted deposits, the volume of which is still at a significant level," Oleksandr Romaniuk, the first deputy head of Ukrgazvydobuvannia, said.

According to him, the selected companies have significant experience, including in implementation of such contracts. Future production and investment programs will be discussed during the month, then the winners will be determined for each group of fields. It is planned to start work on the fields in the first half of 2020.