Azerbaijan, Baku, March 11 / Trend /
EDITOR's NOTE: Details have been added after the second paragraph
U.S Devon Energy Corporation today announced that it has reached the agreement with BP to sell its assets at $97 billion in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Azerbaijan, Devon Energy's statement posted on official website of the company said.
Devon Energy has 5.6262 percent of share holding in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) project. BP is the operator in this project. According to BP, its proven oil reserves exceed 7 billion barrels.
"This sale, combined with our previously announced divestitures of $1.3 billion of deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets, put Devon well on the way to completing its strategic repositioning," Larry Nichols, Devon's chairman and chief executive officer said. "Given any reasonable sales price for Devon's remaining divestiture assets, the transactions to date suggest that our total after-tax proceeds for the entire divestiture program will exceed our previously announced range of $4.5 to $7.5 billion," he said.
Other project participants include BP (operator - 34.1367 percent of share holding), Chevron (10,2814 percent), SOCAR (10 percent), INPEX (10 percent), Statoil (8,5633 percent), ExxonMobil (8,006 percent), TPAO (6,75 percent), Itochu (3,9205 percent), Delta Hess (2,7213 percent).
Thus, after completing the deal, the share of BP in Azerbaijani project will increase by 39.7629 percent from current 34.1367 percent.
In November 2009, Devon Energy announced its intention to sell its share in the ACG project, as well as all the international assets, including assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and focus on onshore projects in North America.
At present, daily output of Azeri Light crude oil at the ACG in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is about 850,000 barrels per day.
Oil transportation is carried out via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and Baku-Supsa. Oil is also delivered to the Georgian port of Batumi by railway. Devon Energy and ExxonMobil companies are shareholders of the ACG project. They did not invest in the construction of the BTC pipeline. They transport their part of Azeri Light crude oil to the port of Batumi by railway.
PSA agreement on ACG project was signed in September 1994. Duration of the agreement is 30 years.