Azerbaijan marks the 31st anniversary of the signing of the "Contract of the Century"

September 20 marks the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Production Sharing Agreement ("Contract of the Century") for the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli block of fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and the professional holiday of oil and gas sector workers - Oil Worker's Day.

This day was declared a professional day for oil workers in accordance with the decree of national leader Heydar Aliyev dated August 16, 2001.

On Oil Worker's Day, achievements and future tasks in the oil and gas sector are discussed, and oil workers receive honorary titles, orders, and medals for their contribution to the development of the industry.

The celebration of this day is timed to coincide with the signing of the "Contract of the Century" for the development of Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG), concluded in 1994 between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and a consortium of 11 oil companies representing six countries. Signed for a period of 30 years, it was ratified by the Milli Mejlis on December 12, 1994, and came into force on December 14.

The "Contract of the Century" became the first major investment by Western multinational companies in a former Soviet Union country, which was followed by others.

After ratification, the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) was established to implement the agreement, which represented the interests of foreign partners and cooperated with SOCAR and the government of Azerbaijan. Initially, AIOC included 11 foreign oil companies (bp, Amoco, Unocal, LUKoil, Statoil, Exxon, TPAO, Pennzoil, McDermott, Ramco, Delta Nimir), representing six countries - Great Britain, USA, Russia, Norway, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

Since June 1999, bp has been the operator of AIOC.

Today, the equity participation of ACG partners is distributed as follows: bp - 30.37%, SOCAR - 25%, MOL - 9.57% (since April 16, 2020, having bought Chevron's share), Inpex - 9.31%, Equinor - 7.27%, ExxonMobil - 6.79%, TPAO - 5.73%, Itochu - 3.65%, and ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) - 2.31%.

The ACG oil block is located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, approximately 100 km east of Baku. The productive layers are at depths of 2,000 - 3,500 m.

The field development was carried out in several stages: production from the Chirag field began in 1997 as part of the early oil project.

As part of the first phase of the "Azeri" project, production from "Central Azeri" began in early 2005. Phase 2 covers the development of "Western and Eastern Azeri." Production here began in December 2005 and late 2006, respectively.

As part of the third phase of ACG development, production began in the deepwater part of "Gunashli" in April 2008.

The next stage was the "West Chirag" project, with the first oil from this platform flowing on January 28, 2014. The latest project related to the development of the ACG field is "Central-East Azeri." It was sanctioned in 2019, is currently being implemented, and the first oil from the new platform was received in 2023.

On September 14, 2017, the government of Azerbaijan and partners signed an updated agreement on joint development and equity distribution of production from ACG. The term of the agreement has been extended until the middle of the century.

The total investment in ACG to date has amounted to more than $43 billion, with the same amount of investment planned for the future, over the next 30 years of development.