Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan’s energy giant SOCAR will produce additional 5,840 tons of oil annually, due to commissioning of a new well on the Oil Rocks offshore field.

SOCAR reported that 16 tons of oil is extracted daily from the depth of 1,610-1,602 meters.

The Oil Rocks was discovered in 1949. An industrial settlement 100 miles off the coast of Baku, the Oil Rocks is a complete town on the sea. The first oil platform in Azerbaijan, the Oil Rocks was also the first operating offshore oil platform in the world.

By the end of 2016 almost 1 million tons of oil was extracted from the field.

The forecast for oil production in the country in 2017 stands at 39.797 million, while the figure is 3.7 percent lower than the index of 2016.

SOCAR had produced 7.52 million tons of oil from Azerbaijan’s offshore and onshore fields in 2016, as compared to 8.16 million tons in 2015.

Oil production, in total, stood at 41.03 million tons in 2016, as compared to 41.58 million tons in 2015.

SOCAR is wholly owned by the government of Azerbaijan. SOCAR participates in joint ventures (including ventures in Georgia and Turkey), consortia, and operating companies established with SOCAR’s participation.

The company includes such production unions as Azneft (the enterprises producing oil and gas onshore and offshore), Azerikimya (the chemical enterprises) and Azerigas (distributor of gas produced in the country), as well as oil and gas processing plants, service companies and the facilities involved in geophysical and drilling operations.

Currently, SOCAR is the only producer of petroleum products in the country, and operates more than 370 petrol stations in Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine.

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