Historical background to the document "Speech of Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev at the contract signing ceremony on the joint development of the deposits in the Caspian shelf between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic and the consortium of the foreign oil companies (September 20, 1994)"


On September 20, 1994, at Gulustan Palace, a contract on the development and an production sharing agreement on “Azeri”, “Chirag”, “Guneshli” deepwater deposits in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea were signed with the world`s biggest oil companies in the presence of Heydar Aliyev. The document is referred to as the Contract of the Century due to its historical, political and international significance.

Thirteen big oil companies (Amoco, BP, Mc Dermott, Unocal, SOCAR, Lukoil, Statoil, Exxon, Turkish Petrol, Pennzoil, Itochu, Ramco, Delta) of eight countries (Azerbaijan, the USA, the UK, Russia, Turkey, Norway, Japan, and Saudi Arabia) take part in the Contract of the Century. Thus, the new oil strategy and doctrine began to be successfully implemented. The Contract of the Century was approved by the parliament and came into force on 12 December 1994.

Currently, participants of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli are BP (35%; operator), ChevronTexaco (11%), SOCAR (11%), INPEX (10%), Statoil (8%), Exxon (8%), TPAO (6%), Itochu (4%), Amerada Hess (2%).

“90 Instants of the Great leader”, Heydar Aliyev Heritage research center, “Sharq-Qarb”, Baku-2013, p.39