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.