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* MOL aims to add 350 million barrels of reserves until 2023
* Non-organic opportunities needed to achieve targets
* MOL says "not in a rush" for further acquisitions
(Adds details)
By Krisztina Than
BUDAPEST, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Hungarian energy firm MOL
is buying Chevron's stake in a giant oilfield
in Azerbaijan for $1.57 billion, as U.S. majors retreat from the
central Asian state after 25 years to refocus on production at
home.
MOL said on Monday the deal agreed with Chevron includes a
9.57% stake in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli
(ACG) field in the Caspian Sea and a 8.9% stake in the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that transports the crude to the
Mediterranean.
Reuters first reported on the talks between MOL and Chevron
last month.
"What this deal gives us is longevity and stability," MOL's
executive upstream vice president Berislav Gaso told Reuters by
telephone after MOL announced the transaction in a filing.
He said MOL will keep looking for acquisitions, but is "not
in a rush" and any further steps will not be as big, with the
aim on maintaining the ability to generate cash.
"I like barrels but I love dollars even more than that."
He said the Azeri purchase will add about 20,000 barrels per
day to MOL's production guidance, which will rise to
120,000-130,000 barrels per day.
MOL said in a presentation last month that it was seeking to
add 350 million barrels of oil and gas reserves by 2023.
The company also said the largest potential for organic
reserve replacement was in Norway, but opportunities other than
organic growth would be required to achieve this.
MOL is focused on Croatia and Hungary, which account for 64%
of its total upstream oil and gas production, while it also
produces in the North Sea, Iraq and Russia.
Chevron's larger U.S. rival Exxon Mobil is also
seeking to sell its 6.8% stake in ACG, banking and industry
sources have said.
Discovered in the early 1970s when Azerbaijan was part of
the Soviet Union, ACG is the largest oilfield in the Azerbaijan
sector of the Caspian basin.
In 2018, ACG's total production for the full year was on
average 584,000 barrels per day.
Investment bank Jefferies advised Chevron on the deal.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs in Budapest;
additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in London; Editing by
Alexander Smith and Susan Fenton)
