Today marks Oilmen’s Day in Azerbaijan

Baku. 20 September. REPORT.AZ/ Every year on September 20, Azerbaijan marks the Day of Oilmen - professional holiday of workers of oil and gas sector, Report informs.

On August 16, 2001 the former president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev signed a decree under which September 20 is marked as the Day of Oilmen in Azerbaijan.

The celebration of this day is timed to the signing of the contract on production sharing with respect to exploration and development of offshore oil and gas fields "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" (ACG), located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian sector, signed on September 20, 1994 between the 13 known oil companies (BP, SOCAR, "Amoco", "McDermott", "Unocal", "LUKoil", "Statoil", "Exxon", TPAO, "Pennzoil", "Itochu", "Ramco", "Delta") of 8 countries (Azerbaijan, United States , Great Britain, Turkey, Norway, Japan, Russia and Saudi Arabia).

According to historical, political and international significance of the agreement it was called the "Contract of the Century" and reflected on 400 pages and 4 languages.

The increase in oil production in ACG contract was carried out gradually by the commissioning of new fields. Oil production in the "Chirag" started in 1997, "Central Azeri" - at the beginning of 2005, "Western Azeri" - in December 2005, "Eastern Azeri" - in late 2006.

The next stage of development of ACG began in April 2008.

The last stage is the project "Chirag oil", the launch of which is authorized in 2010. "Western Chirag" platform constructed between the platforms "Chirag" and "Deepwater Gunashli", production started here on January 28, 2014.

According to ACG (before the expiry of the contract in 2024) it is planned to produce 300 mln barrels of oil.

Crude oil produced in the ACG under the contract is exported to the world market via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa. BTC was commissioned in 2006 and more than 282.982 mln tons of oil transported through the pipeline from then till September 1, 2015.

At present, participants of the project are: BP (35,8% is the operator), SOCAR (11,6%), "Chevron" (11,3%), "Inpex" (11%), "Statoil" (8,6 %), "ExxonMobil" (8%), TPAO (6.8%), "Itochu" (4,3%), "ONGC Videsh Ltd." (2.7%).

On Oilmen’s Day progress and upcoming issues in industry sector are discussed, by presidential decree workers and specialists of the oil sector are given honorary names, orders and medals.