* Exxon seeks to sell 6.8 pct in the ACG consortium
* Wants to raise up to $2 billion
* Exxon helped create today's Azeri oil industryU.S. involvement in Azerbaijan fades(Updates with Socar, BP comment)
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ron Bousso
LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil is seeking tosell its stake inAzerbaijan's largest oil field, once dubbed the "contract of thecentury", as the U.S. oil and gas giant re-focuses its globaloperations, industry and banking sources said.
Exxon is hoping to raise up to $2 billion from the sale ofits 6.8 percent in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in theCaspian Sea, according to the sources.
Exxon spokeswoman Julie King declined to comment, saying"we don't comment on market rumours or speculation". A spokesmanfor Azerbaijan's state energy company Socar said: "The report isabout Exxon and there is no need for Socar to get involved."
The sale would mark the end of a 25-year journey. Exxon wasamong five U.S. oil companies that helped create Azerbaijan'scurrent oil industry soon after the collapse of the SovietUnion, and signing the deal in 1994.
The deal was dubbed by Azerbaijan and partners as the "thecontract of the century" thanks to the field's large reservesand hopes of future major discoveries that would help Europediversify away from Russian oil and gas.
Even though the project is operated by British oil major BP, it had received substantial U.S. government support anda total of five American companies initially participated in thedeal, including Exxon, Amoco, Unocal, Pennzoil and McDermott.
BP said it had no information about Exxon’s plans.
The project received particular Western support due to hopesit would help cut Europe's reliance on Russian energy, but thosehopes faded as new large discoveries failed to materialise.
Most U.S. companies sold out of the project or were acquiredby rivals, while U.S. support to the Azeri administration alsoshrank.
Azerbaijan also became more assertive in controlling itsenergy wealth by building up large stakes in its energy projectsvia state company Socar.
If Exxon was to sell out of ACG, it would leave Chevronas the only U.S. company in the project, with a stake of9.57 percent, the third largest after BP and Socar, with 30.4and 25 percent respectively.
The ACG fields still account for the lion's share of Azerioil output. They produced around three quarters of overallAzeri crude output, or nearly 600,000 barrels per day, in thefirst half of 2018.
Other ACG consortium members include Japan's Inpex with 9.3percent and Norway's Equinor with 7.3 percent. Turkey's TPAO,Japan’s Itochu, and India's ONGC Videsh have smaller stakes.
Exxon has in recent years increasingly focusedon developing shale fields in the United States, as well as astring of large oil discoveries in Guyana.(Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze;Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov;Editing by Mark Potter and Kirsten Donovan)
BP (BP.)
