BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 15.
About 684.5 million tons of oil (including gas condensate) and 540
billion cubic meters of gas have been produced since the
commencement of operations at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and
Shah Deniz fields up to October 1 of the current year.


This was announced in a statement published by the Azerbaijani
Ministry of Energy.


According to the data, 629.5 million tons of oil and 254.7
billion cubic meters of gas were produced from the ACG, while
nearly 55 million tons of condensate and 285.3 billion cubic meters
of gas were produced from the Shah Deniz. During this period, 682.5
million tons of oil and 206.4 billion cubic meters of gas were
exported.


On September 20, 1994, a 30-year agreement on the joint
development and production sharing of the ACG fields was signed,
involving 11 international oil companies from 7 countries.
Initially, a target was set to produce 500 million tons of oil from
the ACG fields.


On September 14, 2017, the agreement regarding the ACG fields
was amended and revised, and a new production sharing agreement was
signed. Under the amended agreement, the development period for the
ACG field has been extended until the end of 2050. At the same
time, SOCAR’s participating interest has been increased from 11.65
% to 25 %, and the share of profit oil allocated to Azerbaijan has
been set at 75 %.


On April 19, 2019, the final investment decision for the Azeri
Central East (ACE) project was reached. The first oil from the ACE
platform was produced on April 16, 2024. The project aims to
produce 300 million barrels of oil over its operational
lifespan.


The information notes that an agreement regarding the production
of non-associated natural gas from the ACG field was signed on
September 20, 2024. Production of non-associated natural gas at ACG
commenced on June 1, 2026.


Currently, the participating interests in the ACG field are held
as follows: 35.30 % by SOCAR, 30.37 % by bp, 9.57 % by MOL Group,
9.31 % by INPEX, 6.79 % by ExxonMobil, 5.73 % by TPAO, and 2.92 %
by ONGC Videsh. Preparations are underway for a new phase in the
development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field. bp’s Regional
President for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye, Gio Cristofoli,
told reporters during Baku Energy Week that production from a newly
discovered oil accumulation in the deeper layers of the ACG field
is scheduled to begin this September.


He noted that the company has commenced drilling a production
well to ascertain the volume of these newly discovered oil
reserves.







"Although the potential for oil in this area was previously
known, the exact volume of the reserves remained uncertain.
Consequently, a well has been drilled to initiate production from
this oil accumulation and to establish actual figures. This well
will also provide more precise data regarding the scale and
potential of the oil accumulation," he remarked.


Cristofoli indicated that production is set to commence in
September, a process that will play a crucial role in determining
the volume of the newly discovered oil reserves.


The bp representative added that the data obtained from this
well will be of significant importance in shaping the future
development strategy for the field. The Shah Deniz field is located
on the deep-water shelf of the Caspian Sea, 70 kilometers southeast
of Baku, and covers an area of over 140 square kilometers.
Discovered in 1999, the field’s reserves are estimated, based on
initial calculations, to be approximately 1 trillion cubic meters
of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensate.


The development of the field has been carried out in stages. The
final investment decision for the first stage was made in 2003,
with commercial production commencing in 2006. Subsequently, the
Shah Deniz 2 project was approved in 2013, and production began in
2018.


Currently, the development of the project continues into the
next phase, the compression project. Valued at $2.9 billion, this
project aims to increase the extraction of low-pressure gas
reserves from the field and is expected to enable the recovery of
an additional 50 billion cubic meters of gas.


At the same time, the Shah Deniz project has made a significant
contribution to the development of local industrial capacity and a
skilled workforce in Azerbaijan. Within the framework of the
project, thousands of jobs have been created, and local
construction and service companies have been integrated into
international energy projects.


According to bp, the current production capacity of the existing
infrastructure at the Shah Deniz field is approximately 76.8
million standard cubic meters of gas per day, or about 28 billion
cubic meters of gas per year.


Participating interests in the Shah Deniz project are
distributed as follows: bp (operator) – 29.99 %, LUKOIL – 19.99 %,
TPAO – 19 %, SGC – 16.02 %, NICO – 10 %, and MVM – 5 %.