Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 21 / Trend /
The BP Plc-led group developing Azerbaijan's biggest oilfield will probably have to increase investments to stem an output decline even without winning a license extension, Bloomberg reported with the reference to SOCAR deputy vice-president Vitaliy Baylarbayov.
"Whether the field will require additional investments or not, the probable answer is yes, it will," Baylarbayov said.
Harsh mistakes of the bp-operated international consortium [the Azerbaijan International Operating Company] have led to a sharp decline in oil production on the Azeri and Chirag fields, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said earlier at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of the country's socio-economic development in the first nine months of 2012.
As a result, Azerbaijan received over $8 billion less in direct revenue.
The contract on the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli full field development was signed in 1994.
Participants of the project to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli are: BP (operator - 35.83 percent), Chevron (11.27 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.6 percent), Statoil (8.56 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itocu (4.3 percent) and Hess (2.72 percent). Hess has sold its share to Indian ONGC, the transaction will be completed in the first quarter of 2013.
Bloomberg mentioned that BP and its partners have sought an extension to their production-sharing agreement beyond 2024 to allow them to recoup investments.
According to Baylarbayov, there is no conversation about extending the PSA.
'The remaining period is long enough to realize any kind of program agreed upon by the sides. SOCAR has the capacity to develop ACG after 2024 and produce "whatever remains recoverable," Baylarbayov said.
Edited by: A.Badaloava