BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20. The “Contract
of the Century,” signed on September 20, 1994, laid the foundation
for a new stage in Azerbaijan’s modern economic history.


This was stated in a post by Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy
Mikayil Jabbarov on his X page.


“The ‘Contract of the Century,’ signed on September 20, 1994,
laid the foundation for a new stage in Azerbaijan’s modern economic
history. The agreement gave significant impetus to the effective
utilization of the country’s energy potential, the expansion of
cooperation with foreign partners, and investment opportunities,”
the post says.


It should be noted that today marks the 32nd anniversary of the
signing of the “Contract of the Century.” As part of the
development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field block, one of
the key projects in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sector, more than 628
million tonnes of oil and 253 billion cubic meters of gas had been
produced as of September 1, 2026.


According to the information, on September 20, 1994, a 30-year
Production Sharing Agreement on the joint development of the 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 ACG.


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%.


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 free natural gas from the ACG fields. Free natural gas
production at ACG began on June 1, 2026.


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%.