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 %.