ONGC Videsh acquires Equinor stake in Azerbaijan oil field: Rediff Moneynews

New Delhi, Nov 30 (PTI) ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has completed the acquisition of Norwegian company Equinor’s stake in a field oilfield in Azerbaijan and an associated pipeline for $60 million. , the company said in a statement.

OVL “has completed the acquisition of a 0.615 percent stake (PI) in the Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) offshore field in Azerbaijan from Equinor. This also includes the acquisition of 0.737 percent of the company’s shares Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline through its wholly-owned subsidiary ONGC BTC Limited,” a company statement said.

The company had signed a sale-purchase agreement (SPA) for the purchase of the stake in July and the transaction was completed on November 29.

“The total investment for this acquisition is approximately $60 million,” the statement said.

OVL currently holds a 2.31 percent stake in the ACG field and 2.36 percent in the BTC pipeline. The acquisition of Equinor will increase its participation.

Equinor announced in December last year an agreement to sell all its remaining assets in Azerbaijan to SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan).

The assets included a 7.27 percent non-operated stake in the Azerbaijani Chirag Gunashli oil fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, an 8.71 percent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and 50 percent in the Karabakh field. .

SOCAR already held a 25.0 percent stake in ACG, a 25 percent stake in BTC through Azerbaijan BTC Limited and 50 percent in Karabakh.

It is unclear how Equinor, which had agreed to sell its entire stake to SOCAR, ended up selling a 0.615 percent stake in the oil field and a 0.737 percent stake in the pipeline. The press release makes no mention of it.

Initially, OVL acquired a 2.72 percent stake in ACG in March 2013.

The ACG contract, extended until 2049, was signed between the partners on the ground and SOCAR in September 2017. In accordance with the production sharing agreement (PSA) reformulated and modified for the extension period, the participations of the companies international oil companies were reduced, with OVL’s stake increasing to 2.31 percent. of 2.72 percent.

BP is the field operator with a 30.37 percent stake. The remaining shares in the field are divided between Japanese companies and ExxonMobil.

“ACG is a super-giant offshore oil field located in the Caspian Sea, operated by oil major BP since 1999. The field has been developed in phases and a seventh production platform, Azeri Central East, was commissioned in early 2024 “, the press release said. said.

The Baku-Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline transports oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli field and condensate from Shah Deniz through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It connects the Sangachal terminal on the Caspian Sea to the Ceyhan maritime terminal on the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

OVL has interests in 32 oil and gas projects in 15 countries, from Vietnam to Venezuela. It currently produces some 2,00,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent natural gas per day from these assets.