Devon Energy to drop Azeri interests

OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Oklahoma-based Devon Energy announced it was unloading its shares in the offshore Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field to focus on its North American assets.

Devon, the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producer, announced it would focus its activities on its onshore domestic portfolio, dumping its ACG stake by as early as the first quarter of 2010.

"We will sell our stake in the ACG project, as well as all our international assets, including assets in the Gulf of Mexico," Devon Energy spokesman Chip Minty told the Trend news agency.

Devon's majority holdings are focused in North America.

Devon Energy holds a 5.62 minority equity share in the ACG field located in the Azeri waters of the Caspian Sea. Its total reserves pass 900 million tons.

Devon, along with its partners at Exxon Mobil, unloads Azeri resources by rail to Georgia's ports on the Black Sea.

Most of the estimated 7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Azerbaijan lie in the offshore ACG field, listed as the world's third largest.

Azerbaijan exports its Azeri light crude blend primarily to Turkish ports on the Mediterranean Sea through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the second longest in the world.