Azeri SOCAR Assumes Statoil's Pipeline Rights

Norway's Statoil (STO) handed over its commercial operating rights on the gas-carrying South Caucasus Pipeline project to Azeri state energy firm SOCAR on Friday after completing the sale of its 15.5 percent stake to Malaysia's Petronas.

The signing ceremony took place in the Azeri capital Baku.

Statoil said it had transferred its 15.5 percent stake in the Shah Deniz production-sharing agreement and a stake of the same size in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company (SCPC) to Petronas.

It also sold a 12.4 percent share in the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC).

"Following this transaction the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, will assume operatorship of AGSC and commercial operatorship of SCPC as of 1 May 2015, which have both previously been held by Statoil," Statoil said in a statement.

The South Caucasus Pipeline project is also known as the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Pipeline. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova