LUKOIL said it had acquired 15.5 percent interest in the Shah Deniz natural gas project in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea from PETRONAS for $2.25 billion.

The contract is similar to a $35 million contract signed in August – applied to “Ruslan” and “Mriya” D-18T engines.

Azerbaijan shipped 754,000 tonnes of oil via Russia in January-September, up from 330,000 tonnes shipped in the same period last year.

The resource-rich ex-Soviet country is now scheduled to produce 647,000 bpd in October.