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ONGC Videsh Ltd and its consortium partners of the giant Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater portion of Gunashli (ACG) fields in Azerbaijan have got an extension for the production sharing agreement (PSA) for oil fields until December 31, 2049.
A company statement said that OVL and its consortium partners had entered into an agreement with Azerbaijan Government and its State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) for the same. The agreement was signed in Baku on September 14.
OVL holds a participating interest in ACG oil fields in the Azerbaijan sector of Caspian Sea. The other partners in the consortium are BP, Chevron, INPEX, Statoil, ExxonMobil, TPAO and ITOCHU. The agreement is subject to ratification by Parliament (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
As part of the agreement, the international co-venturers will pay a bonus of $3.6 billion to the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and SOCAR will increase its equity share in the ACG PSA from 11.65 per cent to 25 per cent.
After the completion of the agreement, the new ACG participating interests will be BP, 30.37 per cent; AzACG (SOCAR), 25 per cent; Chevron, 9.57 per cent; INPEX, 9.31 per cent; Statoil, 7.27 per cent; ExxonMobil, 6.79 per cent; TPAO, 5.73 per cent; ITOCHU, 3.65 per cent; and ONGC Videsh Ltd, 2.31 per cent.
ONGC Videsh’s share of the total bonus payments is about $ 111 million.
An official statement said the ACG oil fields currently produce crude oil at a rate of approximately 585,000 barrels per day (average rate for the first half of 2017) from three oil fields (Azeri oil field, Chirag oil field and deep water portion of Gunashli oil field).
Crude oil produced at the ACG oil fields is transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC pipeline) to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast of the Republic of Turkey, from where it is shipped to customers.
The existing ACG PSA was signed on 20th September 1994 for 30 years. ONGC Videsh had acquired 2.7213 per cent participating interest in the ACG PSA and 2.36 per cent in BTC Pipeline from Hess Corporation on March 28, 2013.
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