Azerbaijan's Azeri Light oil sees slight drop to $72.81 on global market

A source in the oil market has announced that the price of one barrel of Azerbaijan's Azeri Light crude oil on the global market decreased by $0.09, or 0.12 per cent, to $72.81 per barrel.

As of the latest trading session, the price of May futures for Brent crude oil was $71.52 per barrel, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The price for a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil on an FOB basis dropped by $0.08 in the Turkish port of Ceyhan, or 0.11 per cent, settling at $71.48 per barrel. The oil price is forecasted at $70 per barrel in Azerbaijan's state budget for this year.

The lowest recorded price for Azeri Light crude was $15.81 per barrel on April 21, 2020, while the highest was $149.66 per barrel in July 2008. Azerbaijan's oil production is primarily centred around the development of the "Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli" (ACG) block of fields, with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) holding a 31.655 per cent stake in the contract. 

The contract for the development of the Azeri, Chirag, and Deepwater Gunashli fields was signed in 1994 and was due to expire in 2024. However, a new agreement was signed in 2017, extending the development of the ACG block until 2050. 

Under the new contract, the ownership shares in the ACG project are as follows: BP (the operator) holds 30.37 per cent, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has 31.655 per cent, Hungarian MOL owns 9.57 per cent, American ExxonMobil has 6.79 per cent, Indian ONGC Videsh holds 2.925 per cent, Japanese Inpex Corp. controls 9.31 per cent, Itochu Oil has 3.65 per cent, and Turkish TPAO owns 5.73 per cent.

By Naila Huseynova