ACG oil production to rise in 2013: SOCAR
The program of activities for 2013 on Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields in the Caspian Sea is currently being revised, president of Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev has said.
Abdullayev noted that oil production will be higher than in 2012. He also said a new long-term program for the period until 2020 will be prepared to provide for long-term stable production in the volume of 35 million tons of oil a year at ACG.
According to him, in April 2013, a new production platform will be installed at ACG under the Chirag Oil project, which will also provide a stable level of oil production.
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 (operator - 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.