Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Shifting changes in product prices are characteristic for the oil and gas sector, therefore low oil prices will soon be replaced by higher ones, said Vitaly Baylarbayov, SOCAR deputy vice-president for investments and marketing.

Baylarbayov, addressing the SPE Annual Caspian Technical Conference and Exhibition in Baku on November 4, said the positive side of low oil prices is that it forces companies to create and apply new technologies.

“The current period of development in the oil industry is facing a number of challenges, low prices being among them,” he said. “However, price changes take place in an undulating manner, and so high prices can be expected to soon replace low ones.”

The country produces three grades of crude oil—the SOCAR-produced barrels, Azeri BTC, and Azeri Light, and Urals.

The average price for AZERI LT, exported from Azerbaijan via the Ceyhan, Batumi and Supsa ports to the Italian Augusta port, was $49.28 per barrel on October 26-30 or $0.31 per barrel less than the previous week.

The average price for Urals (Ex-Novo) exported from Azerbaijan via the Novorossiysk port stood at $44.78 per barrel or $0.01 per barrel more than the previous week.

The prime cost of oil extracted by SOCAR amounted to 91.63 manats ($87.58) per ton, less by 1.4 percent compared to the figure in 2013, according to the company report. The total expenditure of the company on oil exploration exceeded 658.35 million manats ($629.25 million) compared to 665.73 million manats ($636.3) in 2013.

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