BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 5
Trend:
The Azerbaijani authorities plan to approve the deal on the purchase of the share of the US Chevron company by the Hungarian MOL company in the project of developing the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project, Ibrahim Ahmadov, spokesman for the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, told Trend.
Ahmadov made the remark in Baku during a media tour dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Oil Rocks, Trend reports.
“SOCAR is not against a new participant in the ACG project,” the spokesman said. “MOL is one of the biggest specialized companies in the Central and Eastern Europe.”
"The deal should be approved by the Azerbaijani relevant state bodies, represented by SOCAR in the contract,” Ahmadov said. “The Azerbaijani side will make a decision on this issue within three months."
The spokesman added that the Azerbaijani side has not yet received an official appeal regarding the approval of the deal.
"A meeting has already been held with Chevron, during which a deal with MOL was discussed," Ahmadov said.
The spokesman also stressed that SOCAR, along with other ACG project participants, presented its proposals to acquire the shares of Chevron and ExxonMobil companies in the ACG project. However, Chevron opted for MOL.
“This does not contradict the terms of the contract, and we are not against a new participant in the project,” Ahmadov said. “This opens up good prospects for the development of cooperation.”
The Hungarian MOL Group signed an agreement with Chevron Global Ventures Ltd and Chevron BTC Pipeline Ltd on the acquisition of 9.57 percent of the shares in the project of ACG development in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and an 8.9 percent share in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
The total amount of the contract is over $1.65 billion, taking into account adjustments while closing the transaction, which will be financed through the existing liquidity of the company. MOL will become the third biggest partner in ACG after the completion of this deal.