Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct 22 /Trend/
Indian state oil company ONGC Videsh Ltd. will contribute to the further development of the project to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, in the case of acquisition of interest in it, managing director of the corporation ONGC D.K.Sarraf said at a meeting with President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev on Monday.
"ONGC Corporation is currently implementing 30 projects in 15 countries, and we are interested in participating in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan," the managing director of ONGC said, noting that the oil industry in India has a 70-year history and Azerbaijani specialists play an important role in its development.
He added that, by participating in the ACG project, in which ONGC is interested in buying a stake of Hess, a partner in the PSA contract for development of "Azeri", "Chirag" and the deep part of "Guneshli", the corporation will be able to recover some of the historical debt to Azerbaijan.
In early September U.S. corporation Hess announced it agreed to sell its share (2.72 %) in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil project (ACG) and its 2.36 percent interest in the associated BTC pipeline to the ONGC corporation.
The transaction will cost for $1 billion and expected to close in the first quarter of 2013, the website of corporation said.
Sarraf said the activities of ONGC and SOCAR have important similarities, and the two companies in the first place, are guided by national interests.
Abdullayev, in turn, noted the broad prospects for cooperation, highlighted the achievements of the State Oil Company in recent years in projects within the country and abroad.
The BP operated ACG fields, located in the Caspian Sea approximately 100 kilometers east of Baku, commenced production in 1997.
ACG participating interests excpet Hess are: BP (operator - 35.8%), Chevron (11.3%), AzACG (11.6%), INPEX (10.96%), Statoil (8.56%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.75%), ITOCHU (4.3%)