India's ONGC ready to contribute to ACG development
Indian state oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd. will contribute to further development of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea if it acquires interest in the project, managing director of the ONGC corporation, D.K.Sarraf, said at a meeting with the president of Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev on Monday.
"ONGC Corporation is currently implementing 30 projects in 15 countries, and we are interested in participating in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan," Sarraf said, noting that the oil industry in India has a 70-year history and Azerbaijani specialists play an important role in its development.
ONGC is interested in buying the ACG stake of US corporation Hess, a partner in the PSA contract for the development of Azeri, Chirag and deepwater Gunashli fields.
Sarraf added that by participating in the ACG project, the corporation will be able to repay some of the "historical debt" to Azerbaijan.
In early September Hess announced it had agreed to sell its 2.72% share in the ACG project and its 2.36 percent interest in the associated BTC pipeline to the ONGC corporation. The $1 billion transaction is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, according to the corporation's website.
Sarraf said the activities of ONGC and SOCAR have important similarities, and the two companies are primarily guided by national interests.
Abdullayev, in turn, cited broad prospects for cooperation, highlighting the achievements of SOCAR in recent years in projects implemented both in the country and abroad.
The BP-operated ACG fields, located in the Caspian Sea approximately 100 kilometers east of the Azerbaijani capital Baku, commenced production in 1997.
The landmark agreement on developing the ACG fields was signed with 13 energy majors from eight countries in Baku in 1994. Besides Hess, ACG participating interests are: BP (35.83%), SOCAR (11.65%), Chevron (11.27%), Inpex (10.96%), Statoil (8.56%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.75%), and Itochu (4.3%).
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