KYIV, Feb. 15 - Ukraine will next week hold the first meeting with seven European energy companies seeking to win the right to manage the country’s natural gas pipelines, an official said Thursday.

The meeting was scheduled for February 21 and February 22 as the government seeks to get input from the companies before holding an auction. The government recently extended for a month to March 1 the deadline for the bids.

“There are seven parties that are interested, two of which represent major European consortiums,” an aide to First Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion said Thursday.