ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has acquired Norwegian firm Equinor’s stake in an Azerbaijan oilfield and an associated pipeline for $60 million, the firm said in a statement.
“OVL has signed a definitive sale purchase agreement (SPA) for directly acquiring a 0.615per cent participating interest (PI) in the offshore Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field in Azerbaijan from Equinor.
“The agreement also includes acquiring a 0.737 per cent stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline company through its wholly-owned subsidiary ONGC BTC Limited,” it added.
The acquisitions, expected to be completed in the coming months, involve a total investment of up to $60 million.
OVL holds a 2.31 per cent stake in the ACG field and 2.36 per cent in the BTC pipeline. The buyout of Equinor’s stake will help increase its holdings.
In December last year, Equinor announced an agreement to sell all its remaining assets in Azerbaijan to the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).
These assets comprised a 7.27 per cent non-operated interest in the ACG oil fields, an 8.71 per cent interest in the BTC pipeline, and a 50 per cent stake in the Karabakh field. SOCAR already held a 25 per cent stake in ACG, a 25 per cent stake in BTC via Azerbaijan BTC Limited, and a 50 per cent stake in Karabakh.
It is unclear how Equinor, which had agreed to sell all of its stake to SOCAR, ended up selling a 0.615 per cent stake in the oilfield and a 0.737 per cent stake in the pipeline. The statement made no mention of this.
Originally, OVL acquired a 2.72 per cent stake in ACG in March 2013. The ACG contract extension until 2049 was signed between field partners and SOCAR in September 2017.
According to the restated agreement for the extension period, the stakes of international oil companies were reduced, with OVL’s interest becoming 2.31 per cent from 2.72 per cent.
BP is the operator of the field with a 30.37 per cent stake. The remaining stake in the field is divided between Japanese firms and ExxonMobil.
“ACG is a super-giant offshore oil field 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 statement said.
