Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The extension of the Vienna agreement on the oil output reduction will be in Azerbaijan's interest, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev told reporters on the sidelines of SOCAR forum in Baku on April 25.

"The decision on the reduction of oil production, made in December 2016, has yielded positive results," he said. “The oil price has been varying within the range of $50-60 per barrel since January 2017, that is, precisely what we expected. I think that the measures taken earlier have brought benefits."

Aliyev added that the participants of the upcoming meeting should agree to extend the agreement till the end of 2017 to keep oil prices at a stable level.

"The extension of the agreement is beneficial for us, so we will not oppose this decision," the minister said.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan produces three grades of crude oil - Azeri BTC, Azeri Light, and Urals. The price of a barrel of Azeri Light crude oil fell $0.03 to stand at $53.21 on the world markets on April 25.

In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices.

Non-OPEC producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd starting from January 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months, to take into account prevailing market conditions and prospects.

The participation of Azerbaijan in joint oil production cuts is defined at 35,000 barrels per day.

The country’s oil output in March 2017 amounted to 733,300 barrels, 40,000 barrels of which accounted for condensate.

The volume of daily production in February amounted to some 776,400 barrels, while the volume of daily export at 604,100 barrels of oil with some 50,000 barrels accounting for condensate and 26,800 barrels fall to a share of oil products. This January, the volume of daily production amounted to some 793,900 barrels, while the daily export was 617,000 barrels.

Prior to the landmark deal, the volume of production in the country was at the level of 37.72 million tons of oil, while daily output stood at 829,100 barrels. Oil production of the country in 2017 is forecasted to stand at 39.797 million, while average daily oil production will amount to 800,000-807,000 barrels.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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