The Central Azeri Platform (photo: Stuart Conway/BP)

The Azerbaijan government and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), together with BP, Chevron, INPEX, Statoil, ExxonMobil, TP, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh have signed the amended and restated agreement on the joint development and production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Azeri, Chirag fields and the Deep Water Portion of the Gunashli Field (ACG) in the Azerbaijan Sector of the Caspian Sea. The contract is now subject to ratification by the Parliament (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The contract was signed in Baku today in the presence of H.E. President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a group of visiting senior government and state officials, by Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, on behalf of the Azerbaijan government, and by the representatives of the co-venturer companies.

BP will remain the operator in accordance with the amended and restated ACG PSA.

As part of the contract, the international co-venturers will pay a bonus of $3.6bn to the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and SOCAR will increase its equity share in the ACG PSA from 11.65% to 25%. During the next 32 years, there is the potential for more than $40bn capital to be invested in the ACG oil field.

Following completion of the contract, the new ACG participating interests will be as follows: BP, 30.37%; AzACG (SOCAR), 25.00%; Chevron, 9.57%; INPEX, 9.31%; Statoil, 7.27%; ExxonMobil, 6.79%; TP, 5.73%; ITOCHU, 3.65%; and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), 2.31%.

Subsequent to this contract, SOCAR and its co-venturers have also agreed to progress engineering development work to evaluate an additional production platform in the ACG contract area.

Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR President, says, “Today is a significant day for Azerbaijan. It brings back the days, when we signed the ‘Contract of the Century’. Despite the challenging political and economic conditions of that time, thanks to the intense effort by our national leader Heydar Aliyev the first ACG contract was signed, laying the foundation of the future economic development of Azerbaijan. Since the signing of the first PSA in 1994, ACG has benefited from USD 33 billion of investment, producing around 440 million tonnes of oil, and delivering directly more than USD 125 billion of net profit to our country.”

“Finalising the negotiation process between SOCAR and the partner companies today, we have signed the new contract on the ACG project on agreed terms. The new contract is effective until the end of 2049. The terms of the new contract will take effect following their ratification by the Parliament (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which will enable us to maximise the economic benefits for our country from ACG over the next 32 years. The terms of the new contract reflect the growing financial and technological potential of Azerbaijan and SOCAR. They also demonstrate the confidence of our foreign partners in the Azerbaijani economy, taking our effective partnership to a new level,” adds Abdullayev.

Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP, says, “Over the past 23 years the Contract of the Century has truly transformed Azerbaijan, energy supplies to Europe and all of us who have worked so hard to make it a success. Today’s contract is perhaps an even more important milestone in the history of Azerbaijan as it ensures that over the next 32 years we will continue to work together to unlock the long-term development potential of ACG through new investments, new technologies and new joint efforts to maximise recovery. In light of that, I think it is fair to call this the Contract of the New Century.”

Tags: BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, INPEX, ITOCHU, ONGC Videsh, State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Statoil, TP