Azerbaijan to increase oil, gas production
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijan is expected to produce about 40.62 million metric tons of oil in 2015 compared to 41.65 million metric tons projected for 2014.
In 2013, Azerbaijan produced some 43.15 million metric tons of
oil, a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend Agency on October 28.
The source also noted according to the forecasts, oil production
volumes will fluctuate until 2018.
In 2016, oil production in Azerbaijan will amount to 40.77 million
metric tons, in 2017 - 39.42 million metric tons, and in 2018 - to
40.32 million metric tons.
The main part of oil of energy-rich Azerbaijan is extracted from giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields in the Caspian Sea.
Since the beginning of development of the field around 345 million metric tons of oil and 100 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted.
The source went on adding that the volume of gas production in
Azerbaijan will reach 30.2 billion cubic meters in 2018, compared
to 28.42 billion cubic meters forecasted for 2014.
Azerbaijan produced 29.45 billion cubic meters of gas in 2013.
The source also noted although the volumes of gas production
forecasted for 2015 and 2014 are equal, it is expected that the gas
production volume will increase in 2016.
Gas production is expected to hit 29.55 billion cubic meters in
2016 and 29.92 billion cubic meters in 2017, while this figure is
forecasted to exceed 30 billion cubic meters in 2018.
The major part of Azerbaijan's natural gas is produced from giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Caspian Sea.
As of September 1, around 55 billion cubic meters of gas and 14 million metric tons of gas condensate was extracted from this field.
The proven gas reserves hit 2.3 trillion cubic meters in Azerbaijan, but when it comes to the projected reserves, the figure can reach six trillion cubic meters.