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BP and SOCAR Ink Letter of Intent for ACG Field Development

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BP plc (BP - Free Report) operated AIOC (the Azerbaijan International Operating Company) recently inked a letter of intent (LoI) with SOCAR (the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan) relating to the future development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. We expect these developments to result in stock price appreciation. Year to date, the stock has gained 18.5%, while Zacks categorized sub industry Oil & Gas-International Integrated Market has increased by 19%.

The agreement pertains to the development of the field till 2050 and is expected to add substantial resource development potential by the middle of the century. Currently, the ACG field yields circa 620,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

Leading energy companies like BP, Chevron Corp. (CVX - Free Report) , INPEX, Statoil ASA , ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM - Free Report) , TPAO, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh hold stakes in AIOC.

The LoI approves the vital commercial terms for the future development of the ACG field and will assist the parties to close negotiations and conclude fully-termed agreements in the next few months. This agreement will also facilitate future investments and projects as well as create many thousands of jobs in the years ahead.

Located about 100 kilometers east of Baku, ACG is a massive field and also the biggest producing oil field in the Caspian Sea. It spans across an area of over 432 square kilometers and lies in water depths ranging between 120 meters and 170 meters. The depth of the reservoir is 2,000–3,500 meters.

The existing ACG production sharing agreement (PSA) was inked in Sep 1994 for a period of three decades. Oil production from the field commenced in Nov 1997. To date, the field has produced over 3 billion barrels of oil and has involved an investment of about $33 billion.

There are six producing platforms on ACG that are connected to a world-class onshore terminal in Sangachal near Baku. From the terminal, ACG oil is exported to world markets mainly by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline and the Western Route Export Pipeline to Supsa.

BP is the operator acting on behalf of AIOC and the Contractor Parties to the ACG Production Sharing Agreement.
 
BP currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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