Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli non-associated gas deal signed

SOCAR (The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic) together with bp, MOL, INPEX, Equinor, ExxonMobil, TPAO, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh, today announced the signing of an addendum to the existing production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Azeri and Chirag fields and the deep water portion of the Gunashli field (ACG) in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, Report informs.

The addendum amends the ACG PSA enabling the parties to progress the exploration, appraisal, development of and production from the non-associated natural gas (NAG) reservoirs of the ACG field. The non-associated natural gas resources of ACG are believed to be significant, with up to 4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in place.

The new gas deal was celebrated in Baku today during an event which marked Azerbaijan’s national Oil Workers’ Day and the 30^th anniversary of the signing of the ACG PSA. In attendance were Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR, Gordon Birrell, bp’s executive vice president (EVP) of production and operations, Gary Jones, president of AIOC, and senior executives of the ACG co-venturer companies.

The addendum is effective until the end of the existing ACG PSA in 2049. During the next 25 years, and subject to exploration and appraisal of the NAG reservoirs, there is a potential for billions of dollars of capital to be invested in the development of NAG reservoirs of the ACG field.

The participating interests of the ACG co-venturers in the NAG project are the same as in the existing ACG PSA: bp (30.37%), SOCAR (25.0%), MOL (9.57%), INPEX (9.31%), Equinor (7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO (5.73%), ITOCHU (3.65%), ONGC Videsh (2.31%).