Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

From early 2001 to January 1, 2019, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) received $ 138.2 billion as part of a project to develop the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, Trend reports referring to SOFAZ on January 9.

In 2018, as part of the ACG project, the fund's revenues reached $9.72 billion.

Revenues from the sale of gas condensate produced at the Shah Deniz field in 2018 amounted to $245 million. In total, since 2007, SOFAZ gas sales revenues from Shah Deniz field amounted to $2.5 billion.

ACG is the largest oil field in the Caspian Sea, covering more than 432 square kilometers. Oil extraction from the field began in 1997.

Proven oil reserves of ACG block of oil and gas fields are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves make 350 billion cubic meters.

On September 14, 2017, a modified and re-developed agreement was signed on joint development and shared distribution of production from the Azeri, Chirag fields and the deepwater part of the Gunashli field (ACG). The new agreement provides for the development of the field until 2050.

The new ACG participating interests come as follows: BP - 30.37 percent; AzACG (SOCAR) - 25 percent; Chevron - 9.57 percent; INPEX - 9.31 percent; Statoil - 7.27 percent; ExxonMobil - 6.79 percent; TP - 5.73 percent; ITOCHU - 3.65 percent; ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent.

Shah Deniz is a giant gas condensate field, reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million tons of condensates. Within the second stage of field development, the volume of gas production can be increased to 24 billion cubic meters per year, according to forecasts.

The discovery of the giant Shah Deniz field and the successful implementation of the project made Azerbaijan a country that can export a large amount of natural gas to the world.

The project participants are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent), NİKO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan established in 1999 with the assets of $271 million aimed at efficient accumulation of resources and placement of assets abroad, as well as for the preservation and multiplication of funds received from the effective management of oil revenues in order to minimize the negative effect to the economy, prevention of "Dutch disease" to some extent, promotion of resource accumulation for future generations and support of current social and economic processes in Azerbaijan.

Based on SOFAZ's regulations, its funds may be used for the construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure facilities, as well as solving important national problems.

The revenues of the State Oil Fund are formed primarily from revenues from the sale of oil, which remains at the disposal of Azerbaijan in accordance with production-sharing agreements.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz