Price of Azeri Light ups

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan’s Azeri Light crude oil recorded increase in value on December 21 hitting $57.14 per barrel, $0.95 or 1.69 percent up from the previous settlement.

Azeri Light, low sulphur crude oil, comes from the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field.

The minimum price of Azeri light was recorded in December 2001 ($19.15), while the maximum price was fixed in July, 2008 ($149.66).

The country earlier revised its forecast for oil output to bring the volumes in line with the landmark deal reached between OPEC and non-OPEC states to put ceilings to production.

Azerbaijan plans to produce some 39.797 million tons of oil in 2017, while the figure is 3.7 percent lower than the index of 2016. Average daily oil production will amount to 800,000-807,000 barrels in 2017 (in line with Vienna accord), while the daily output for 2016 stands at 842,000 barrels. Azerbaijan holds 0.4 percent of the world’s total proven oil reserves, and produce 1 percent of the world’s oil total output according to the BP Statistical review of World Energy 2015.

Meanwhile, world oil prices also edged up on December 21, amid expectations of a drop in U.S. crude stocks.

International Brent crude oil futures were at $55.57 a barrel, 22 cent up, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude stood at $53.58 per barrel, recording an increase of 28 cents from the last settlement.

The jump is due to a report on a sharp decline released by American Petroleum Institute (API). The watchdog said the U.S. crude stocks dropped by 4.1 million barrels over the week, the country’s gasoline stocks decreased by 2 million barrels.

Market watchers are also focused on the compliance of oil producers with the reduction pledges that were agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC states. The cartel agreed to curtail output by 1.2 million barrels per, while several non-group producers, including Russia, agreed to reduce output by nearly 560,000 bpd in an attempt to oust the global supply glut.

The deal’s implementation will start from January 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months.