The Dolphin Black Sea shelf section, the competition for production sharing agreement (PSA) for which is planned to be announced in March 2020, could be put up for sale divided into several lots, Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection Oleksiy Orzhel has said.

"We hope to split it into three or four lots. This is a great investment project. We will ask the president, prime minister to help us. We will travel, attract investors," he said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on Wednesday, presenting a report on the first six month work of the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection.

According to him, the ministry has already held a series of consultations with international experts, as well as companies that might be interested in the competition.

"We have already held negotiations with SOCAR and with other companies so that the maximum number of large companies take part [in the competition] for the Dolphin section," the minister said.

Commenting on nine competitions held last year, Orzhel said that the process of preparing for the signing of agreements is currently underway.

"In the near future, we hope that with the two players we will already sign the first production sharing agreements," he said.