Historical background to the document "Speech of Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan in the ceremony of the signature of the contract on joint exploitation of the Shahdeniz deposit in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea (June 4, 1996)"

On June 4, 1996, a contract on Shah Deniz deposit was signed in the presence of Heydar Aliyev. Four months later, on October 4, it was ratified by the Parliament and gained force on October 9 by the Presdential decree. After the solution of the organizational problems, BP Exploration (Shah-Deniz) Ltd. operating company started fulfilling the contractual obligations of October 17, 1996.

After the first exploration well was drilled in June 1999, the company announced that Shah Deniz was a large gas condensate deposit. The current participants of the project are BP (25,5 %; operator), Statoil (25,5 %), NIOC (10%), Total (10%), Lukoil (10%), SOCAR (10%), TPAO (9%).

“90 Instants of the Great leader”, Heydar Aliyev Heritage research center, “Sharq-Qarb”, Baku-2013, p.76