MOL Eyes Chevron Stake at ACG: Press
Hungary’s MOL is negotiating a purchase of US major Chevron’s stake in Azerbaijan’s giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil project, sources told Reuters on October 9
Chevron and its larger US rival ExxonMobil entered Azerbaijan shortly after its collapse of the Soviet Union, but both are now looking to exit the country to focus more on domestic activities. MOL had initially sought both companies’ stakes in ACG, but then decided to make an offer for Chevron’s 9.57% position only, according to Reuters. Exxon is still hunting for a buyer for its 6.8% share, and has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to manage the sale process, the news agency said.
ACG forms the bedrock of Azerbaijan’s fossil fuel industry, delivering 542,500 b/day of oil and 0.9bn m3 of gas in the first half. Its operator BP and partners took a $6bn final investment decision (FID) in April on commissioning a new 100,000 b/day platform to arrest production decline.
MOL is not currently present in Azerbaijan, although it does operates upstream assets in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Russia.