Azernews.Az

BP has agreed to continue "working closely" with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR to manage oil production from the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields in the Caspian Sea for the benefit of Azerbaijan and its partners, BP Azerbaijan said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and his senior executive team on Wednesday met BP Group Chief Executive Robert Dudley and the BP upstream executive team in London.

"It was an open and constructive meeting and the task ahead is clear. BP is fully committed to Azerbaijan and the effective management of the ACG field complex, one of the world's great oil fields," Dudley said.

BP's statement comes after President Ilham Aliyev's criticism of the company at a cabinet meeting last week. President Aliyev said serious mistakes of the BP-operated international consortium, Azerbaijan International Operating Company, have led to a sharp decline in oil production on Azeri and Chirag fields, which are part of the ACG development. Aliyev said BP failed to meet the production target in 2009-12, which resulted in Azerbaijan's receiving $8.1 billion less in direct revenue.

A landmark agreement on developing the ACG fields was signed with 13 energy majors from eight countries in Baku in 1994. ACG participating interests are: BP (35.83%), SOCAR (11.65%), Chevron (11.27%), Inpex (10.96%), Statoil (8.56%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.75%), Itochu (4.3%), and Hess (2.72%). Hess has sold its share in the project to India's ONGC, and the transaction will be completed in the first quarter of 2013.