84pct of investments directed to oil and gas sector
By Sara Israfilbayova
The total volume of direct investments attracted to the oil and gas sector of Azerbaijan amounted to $3.771 billion in January-September.
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) reported that the total amount of attracted direct foreign investments to Azerbaijan amounted to $4.5 billion during the reporting period. The share of oil and gas sector in the structure of investments equaled to 83.8 percent.
The growth in net financial liabilities for the oil and gas sector ($1.68 billion) in the item of direct investments in the balance of payments was formed from the difference between the attracted investments ($3.77 billion) and repatriation of capital ($2.09 billion).
It is estimated that the total amount of direct investment attracted to the non-oil sector is $728.7 million.
Azerbaijan has a large number of oil and gas fields and promising structures in the Caspian Sea. One of them is the block of oil and gas fields “Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli” (ACG), proven oil reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves-350 billion cubic meters.
Another large field is the Shah Deniz gas condensate field, reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Within the second stage of field development, the volume of gas production can be increased to 24 billion cubic meters per year, according to forecasts.
There are also such deposits as Absheron (350 billion cubic meters), Umid (200 billion cubic meters), and the promising structure of Babek (400 billion cubic meters).
Azerbaijani gas is currently exported directly by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan SOCAR to Iran and Georgia, and by the Shah-Deniz consortium via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline to Georgia and Turkey.
The overwhelming part of oil produced in Azerbaijan falls on ACG block. Almost all oil from the block is exported by the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
Azerbaijan's oil is exported from the country not only in raw form, but also in the form of oil products. The country’s only oil producer is SOCAR.
Azerbaijan’s oil products are exported to such countries as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, Bahamas and others.
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