Photo: Trend News Agency

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%.