Azerbaijan boosts natural gas production, export

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry has revealed the volumes of gas and oil output and export in the country during the period from January to September 2022, Azernews reports.

Gas production and export

During the first three quarters of 2022, Azerbaijan increased natural gas output by 8.6 percent, or 2.7 billion cubic meters, compared to the same period in 2021. Thus, in the reporting period, the country produced 34.4 billion cubic meters of gas.

Of the total natural gas production, the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields accounted for 10 billion cubic meters, and Shah Deniz for 18.5 billion cubic meters. In the meantime, SOCAR produced 5.9 billion cubic meters of gas.

Moreover, gas sales abroad amounted to 16.3 billion cubic meters, which is 22.6 percent more than in the same period of 2021.

Turkiye accounted for 5.4 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijan’s natural gas export. During this period nearly 6.1 billion cubic meters of gas were exported to Turkiye, with nearly 4.2 billion cubic meters of gas exported through TANAP. In addition, 8.3 billion cubic meters of gas were transported to Europe and 1.9 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia.

Since their commissioning till October 1, 2022, about 200 billion cubic meters of gas were produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields and more than 176 billion cubic meters from the Shah Deniz field. Since commissioning, 122.6 billion cubic meters of gas were exported from the Shah Deniz field.

Oil production and export

Some 24.5 million tons of oil, including condensate, were produced in Azerbaijan in January-September 2022.

The Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields accounted for 15.4 million tons of oil, while Shah Deniz accounted for 3.3 million tons of condensate. SOCAR’s oil production, including condensate, amounted to 5.8 million tons.

During the reporting period, 19.7 million tons of oil, including condensate, were exported. The consortium accounted for nearly 18.6 million tons of oil export, while SOCAR for 1.1 million tons.

Since the commissioning of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz fields till October 1, 2022, some 600.9 million tons of oil, including condensate, were extracted from ACG, while 39.1 million tons of condensate from Shah Deniz. In addition, some 599 million tons of oil were exported.

By the end of nine months of 2022, Azerbaijan refined 4.5 million tons of oil.

The contract for the development of the ACG oil fields was signed on September 20, 1994, and came into effect in December. The contract for the development of the ACG block was extended by 2050 in September 2017. The shareholders in the ACG project are BP (operator, 30.37 percent), SOCAR (25 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) (2.31 percent).

The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz gas field was signed in 1996. Shareholders of the Shah Deniz project are BP (operator, 29.99 percent), LUKOIL (19.99 percent), TPAO (19 percent), SOCAR (14.35 percent), NICO (10 percent), and SGC (6.67 percent).