Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan has achieved a stable output of oil and boosted natural gas production in 2015.

Energy Minister Natig Aliyev stated about this in his article published on the official press, adding that the country produced 41.6 million tons of oil against forecasted 40.7 million tons.

Some 31 million tons of oil was extracted from the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field, 2.3 million tons from the Shah Deniz field (condensate) and 8.2 million tons by Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR.

Touching upon the export figures, Aliyev said that in 2015, Azerbaijan exported 38.1 million tons of oil to world markets.

"Azerbaijan International Operating Company exported 36.9 million tons of crude oil, while SOCAR - 1.2 million tons," he said. "The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline carried not only oil from the ACG field and condensate for the Shah Deniz fields, but also from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan."

The minister went on to add that Azerbaijan extracted 29.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2015.

"Some 12.3 billion cubic meters of gas was extracted from the ACG field and 9.9 billion cubic meters from the Shah Deniz field. Thus, Azerbaijan's gas production exceeded the forecasts for 14.2 million cubic meters last year," he stated.

Currently, energy-rich Azerbaijan's daily oil production stands at 120 million tons, while daily gas production figure amounts to 89 million cubic meters. Oil and gas are extracted from the onshore and offshore fields, as well as from the ACG, Shah Deniz and Umid fields, which are developed together with foreign companies.

Aliyev also revealed oil and gas production forecasts for 2016. He informed that SOCAR's gas production for the current year is projected at 6.3 billion cubic meters. Also gas production from the Shah Deniz field is expected at 10.1 billion cubic meters and from the ACG field - at 12.9 billion cubic meters.

Earlier Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR also revealed the figures showing how many new wells it drilled in 2015.

SOCAR reported on January 6 that in 2015, it put into operation 73 new wells in the fields, developed independently by the company.

"In 2015, some 73 wells were drilled and after the construction were handed over to miners. In December last year this figure stood at 10," the company said.

The volume of drilling works conducted in 2015 by SOCAR (with the exception of joint ventures and operating companies) amounted to 104,411 meters against 127,346 meters in 2014.

SOCAR also said that some 103,411 meters out of total drilling works conducted last year (104,411 meters) were operational drilling, while 1,000 meters - exploratory drilling.

Azerbaijan exports oil through four routes – the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa (western route) and Baku-Novorossiysk (northern route), as well as by rail.

In 2015, the company exported about 17.93 million tons from the Turkish Ceyhan port compared to 20.48 million tons in 2014. SOCAR exported over 2.79 million tons of oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline compared to 2.96 million tons in 2014. It transported 1.27 million tons of "black gold" in the northern direction (Baku-Novorossiysk) for the reporting period compared to 932.15 million tons in 2014.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz