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BP completes Devon Energy transaction in Caspian

17 August 2010 08:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. BP today announced the completion of its purchase from Devon Energy of an additional interest in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oilfield development in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

This is an important step which follows our announcement in March 2010 of a broad-ranging deal between BP and Devon Energy of which the Azerbaijan component has now been completed. The acquisition of the additional interest in Azerbaijan is part of BPâ€™s commitment to the Caspian region as a core strategic area where we already hold a strong position and intend to enhance this significantly in the future,â€ said Rashid Javanshir, President BP Azerbaijan.

Devon Energyâ€™s 5.63 per cent stake in the ACG development will be split between BP (3.29 per cent) and the following parties which have exercised preferential rights in relation to the transaction â€“ Chevron (0.99 per cent), Inpex (0.96 per cent) and Itochu (0.38 per cent).

The additional interest acquired from Devon will increase BPâ€™s operating interest in the ACG development to 37.43 per cent and those of Chevron, Inpex and Itochu to 11.27 per cent, 10.96 per cent and 4.30 per cent respectively, with the remaining interests held by AzACG (a subsidiary of SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic â€“ 10 per cent), Statoil (8.56 per cent), Exxon (8.00 per cent), TPAO (6.75 per cent) and Hess (2.72 per cent).

On March 11 BP announced a broad-ranging deal, in which BP agreed to pay Devon Energy $7.0 billion in cash for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the US deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Azerbaijan element is the third to be completed so far, following completion of acquisition of assets in the Gulf of Mexico and the sale of a 50 per cent stake in BPâ€™s Kirby oil sands interests in Canada. The purchase of assets in Brazil has yet to be completed.