Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sector draws more investments
By Nigar Abbasova
Energy-rich Azerbaijan, which ranks among the front-runners of oil and gas industry, recorded a significant increase in the volume of investments made in its oil and gas sector.
Some 7.91 billion manats ($ 4.62 billion) was invested in the oil and gas sector of the country in January-October 2016, while the volume invested in the same period of 2015 was at the level of 5.91 billion ($ 3.45 billion).
The total amount of capital investments in the industrial sector totaled some 7.95 billion manats ($ 4.65) recording a decrease of 14.2 percent in the reported period.
Nearly 7.14 billion manats ($ 4.17 billion) of the sum fell to a share of the mining industry, facing a decrease of 12.8 percent.
Investments in production, distribution and supply of electricity, gas and heat totaled 224.3 million manats ($ 131.2), which is by 33.9 percent more than in the same period of 2015.
With its well-developed AzeriChirag-Guneshli (ACG) oilfield, serving as the country’s key oil production platform, Azerbaijan has pumped nearly 412 million tons of oil from the field since November 1997.
The oil export, is implemented through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline (BTC), which is deemed to be the key route for the export, Baku-Novorossiysk and Baku-Supsa Pipelines.
The geopolitically important Southern Gas Corridor is expected to provide another source of revenue for Azerbaijan.
The country will export the gas from the Shah Deniz Stage 2 through the SGC.
Shah Deniz Stage 2, or Full Field Development (FFD), a large-scale project is expected to add a further 16 bcm of gas production to the approximately 9 bcm produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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