Indian company ONGC will become a new shareholder of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli Field (ACG) in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline (BTC). Shares will be purchased from Hess (USA), selling 2.72%in ACG and 2.36% in BTC for $1 billion.
Realization of the deal will increase ONGC reserves by 9%.
The Indian company has developed a plan to increase oil and gas extraction from 8.75 million tons to 20 million tons before 2018 and 60 million tons before 2030.
Sudhir Vasudev, Managing Director of ONGC, said that the purchase of shares is the first step towards realization of the idea. The deal is expected to be realized in Q1 2013, president of the section for exploration and extraction of Hess Greg Hill said, Trend reports.
Operation of ACG should cost $708 million in 2012, capital expenses will total $2.516 billion.
ACG is operated by BP and is located in the Caspian Sea, about 100 km east of Baku. It was launched in 1997. The deal to start operation was signed in Baku on September 20, 1994.
Shares in the ACG are as follows: ВР (operator) – 35.83%, Chevron – 11.27%, Inpex – 10.96%, AzACG – 11.6%, Statoil – 8.56%, Exxon - 8%, ТРАО – 6.75%, Itocu – 4.3% and Hess 2,72%.
BTC is 1768 km long, 443 km run through Azerbaijan, 249 km through Georgia, 1076 km through Turkey. Construction started in April 2003 and oil was pumped on May 18, 2005.
BTC shareholders are as follows: BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25%), Chevron (8.9%), Statoil (8.71%), ТРАО (6.53%), Eni (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.40%), Inpex (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%) and Hess (2.36%).
