Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Aliyev / Oil Workers Day and 13th Anniversary of the signing of the Contract of the Century to develop large-scale fields Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli is commemorated on 20 September. Oil Workers Day was established in 2001 by the order of former President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev.
To mark Oil Workers Day, a renowned walk will be organized in the National Park of Azerbaijan, an exhibition by departments of the Azerbaijan State Oil Company will be organized and information will be provided on the completed work together with plans for the Company. A concert will be held in the National Park.
The Contract of the Century which was signed on 20 September 1994 began its active development of oil and gas resources in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. The participants of the Contract are Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), Amoco, McDermott, Unocal, Pennzoil, Exxon, BP and Ramco, Statoil, LUKoil, TPAO and Delta Oil.
Later the list of participating companies changed after McDermott left, Japanese Itochu joined AIOC and BP and Amoco combined. US Mobil, which combined with Exxon, joined the consortium.
In addition, a new name emerged in AIOC: Devon Energy (former Pennzoil), and the British Ramco left the project in 2000 selling its share (2,0825%) to US-Saudi alliance Delta Hess for $150mln. Later Russian LUKOIL left the project selling its 10% share to the Japanese Inpex.
Currently the participants to the project are BP (34.1367% participation share), Unocal (10.2814%), SOCAR (10%), Inpex (10%), Statoil (8.5633%), ExxonMobil (8,006%), TPAO (6.75%), Devon Energy (5.6262%), Itochu (3.9205%), Delta Hess (2.7213%).
Over the last ten years, the consortium has been headed by four presidents: Terry Adams, David Pritchard, Jon Legat and David Woodward. Since the end of 2006, AIOC has been headed by Bill Schrader.