Azerbaijan’s President Heydar “Aliyev threw open its oil industry to foreign investors, in particular the American majors. Aliyev signed his first major oil contract on September 20, 1994, granting Amoco, Pennzoil, UNOCAL, Ramco, Statoil, Delta, and BP drilling rights for three offshore Caspian fields. The companies would work as part of the Azerbaijan International Operating Consortium (AIOC). With estimated recoverable reserves of about 4.4 billion barrels and a peak production of 700,000 barrels a day by 2010, AIOC’s concession rivaled some of Saudi Ariabia’s mega fields.”
– Robert Baer, See No Evil, Pages 239-240