BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. As part of the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field, one of Azerbaijan’s key oil and gas sector projects, more than 628 million tonnes of oil and 253 billion cubic metres of gas had been produced as of September 1, 2026.
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov wrote this on his X page.
"Thirty-two years have passed since the signing of the ‘Contract of the Century.’ On September 20, 1994, a 30-year Production Sharing Agreement on the joint development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields and the sharing of production was signed with the participation of 11 international oil companies from seven countries. At the initial stage, the target was set to produce 500 million tonnes of oil from the ACG fields.
On September 14, 2017, the agreement on the ACG fields was amended and revised, following which a new Production Sharing Agreement was signed. Under the amended agreement, the development period of ACG was extended until the end of 2050. At the same time, SOCAR’s participating interest was increased from 11.65% to 25%, while Azerbaijan’s share of profit oil was set at 75%," the minister wrote.
P. Shahbazov recalled that on April 19, 2019, the final investment decision was made on the Central East Azeri (ACE) project.
"The first oil from the ACE platform was produced on April 16, 2024. Over the project’s operating life, the target is to produce 300 million barrels of oil. On September 20, 2024, an agreement was signed on the production of natural gas from the ACG fields. Free natural gas production at ACG began on June 1, 2026. As of September 1, 2026, more than 628 million tonnes of oil and 253 billion cubic metres of gas had been produced from the ACG fields. More than 63 billion cubic metres of the gas produced was delivered to the state," he noted.
Currently, the participating interests in the ACG project are distributed as follows: SOCAR — 35.30%, bp — 30.37%, MOL Group — 9.57%, INPEX — 9.31%, ExxonMobil — 6.79%, TPAO — 5.73%, and ONGC Videsh — 2.92%.
The minister stressed that the "Contract of the Century" is a historic agreement authored by National Leader Heydar Aliyev.
"It transformed the Caspian’s oil wealth into Azerbaijan’s economic strength, international confidence and strategic energy partnership. Today, building on this strong foundation, we are writing the next chapter of our country’s energy history through new energy projects and ‘green’ energy corridors," the publication says.
