Equinor ASA is exploring the sale of its operations in Azerbaijan, together with a stake within the nation’s largest oil venture, folks with information of the matter mentioned.
The Norwegian power firm is working with Jefferies Monetary Group Inc. to gauge purchaser curiosity within the property, which features a 7.27 % curiosity within the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli discipline, the folks mentioned. A deal may worth the property at about $1 billion, they mentioned.
Operated by BP Plc, the ACG discipline on the Caspian Sea is Azerbaijan’s largest oil venture. It pumped some 10.6 million tons of crude within the first seven months of this yr, authorities information present.
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Different stakeholders within the discipline embrace ExxonMobil Corp., Azerbaijan’s state power firm Socar and Japan’s Inpex Corp. Below the phrases of an present contract, Equinor should supply Socar first refusal on its stake.
Bids for the Equinor property are due within the coming weeks, in response to the folks. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they’ll lead to a deal, they mentioned, asking to not be recognized discussing confidential info.
Equinor has stakes in different exploration and improvement fields within the Caspian Sea, in addition to within the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline, in response to its web site.
Spokespeople for Equinor and Jefferies declined to remark, whereas a consultant for Socar didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
–With help from Kari Lundgren and Zulfugar Agayev.
