Azerbaijan, Baku, May 26 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) intends to complete the purchase of a 1.6-percent stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project in June-July, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said on Thursday.
The company will acquire from the British BP a half of 3.29-percent stake of Devon, which was formerly involved in the project and sold its assets in Azerbaijan.
The purchase procedure is a lengthy process, and the company intends to complete this process in summer, he said.
Devon sold its 5.63 percent share in Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli in 2010 to its project partners - BP (3.29 percent), Chevron (0.99 percent), Inpex (0.96 percent) and Itocu (0.38 percent).
Currently, the participation share of BP (operator) in Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli is 37.43 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 10 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - 8 percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itocu - 4.3 percent and Hess - 2.72 percent.
In 2010, Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli produced 40.6 million tons of oil compared to over 40.3 million tons in 2009. Production of oil from this block in 2010 averaged 823,100 barrels per day.