Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the ACG consortium comprising BP, Chevron, INPEX, Statoil, ExxonMobil, TP, ITOCHU and ONGC Videsh on the agreement with the Azerbaijan Government and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), to extend the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) until the end of 2049. The agreement, which was signed in Baku on 14 September, is now subject to ratification by the Parliament (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

As part of the agreement, the international co-venturers will pay a bonus of $3.6bn to the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and SOCAR will increase its equity share in the ACG PSA from 11.65 per cent to 25 per cent.

Following completion of the agreement, the new ACG participating interests will be: BP, 30.37 per cent; AzACG (SOCAR), 25.00 per cent; Chevron, 9.57 per cent; INPEX, 9.31 per cent; Statoil, 7.27 per cent; ExxonMobil, 6.79 per cent; TP. 5.73 per cent; ITOCHU, 3.65 per cent; and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), 2.31 per cent.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team comprised partner Geoff Peters, senior associate Hussain Kubba and associate April Lord.

Morgan Lewis partner John Hines advised SOCAR assisted by associates Alexander Marchenko and Thomas Edwards.