As many as 15 companies will bid for the right to sign a production-sharing agreement (PSA) covering the Prikerchensky oil and gas section on the Black Sea shelf, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov told a March 1 Cabinet meeting.

The companies include Tupras, Hunt Overseas Oil Company, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and Petrobras, Yekhanurov said.

Ukraine could increase gas production to 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually if the project comes off, he said.

The Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo has also expressed an interest in the tender.

The state-owned Chornomornaftogaz will make a joint bid with U.S. company Hunt Overseas Oil Company.

Bids for the tender will be accepted until March 24, 2006 inclusive. The fee for participation in the tender is $10,000.

The Ukrainian government approved the Prikerchensky PSA tender conditions on December 22, 2005. The field is 12,960 square kilometers in size and the depth of the sea in the area ranges from 70 to 2,000 meters.

source: Interfax Information Services, B.V.