Azerbaijan increases oil and gas condensate production in 2013
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan increased oil and gas condensate production in 2013.
Azerbaijan extracted 43.1 million tons of oil and gas condensate in 2013 compared to 42.98 million tons in 2012, the State Statistics Committee said on January 17.
The bulk of oil production volume fell on the block of oil and gas fields Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Shah Deniz gas condensate field, developed jointly with foreign partners.
Gas production amounted to 17.9 billion cubic meters of tank gas in 2013 compared to 17.24 billion cubic meters in 2012.
The ACG block of fields has been producing oil since 1997. Production started from the Chirag part of the field and continues successfully to this day. This was followed by the Azeri Project; Central Azeri production started in February 2005, West Azeri began production in December 2005, and East Azeri came on stream in October 2006. The Deepwater Gunashli section launched production in April 2008.
The Shah Deniz field, which is one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Europe.
The potential daily volume of production at Shah Deniz is currently 27.3 million cubic meters of gas (depending on demand) and 55,000 barrels of condensate.
Azerbaijan, an energy-rich South Caucasus country, will become one of the world's largest exporters of hydrocarbons due to the realization of its far-reaching plans on gas production and supply.
Earlier, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicted that Azerbaijan's oil production will increase by 20,000 barrels per day (bpd), reaching 0.9 million bpd in 2014.
The highest level of Azerbaijan's oil production in 2014 will be observed in the fourth quarter with 0.93 million bpd. The country's oil production will amount to 0.9 million bpd in the first quarter of 2014, 0.89 million bpd in the second quarter, and 0.9 million bpd in the third quarter.
It is also expected that Azerbaijan's oil production hit 51 million tons in 2015, and gas production exceed 30 billion cubic meters in 2015.