Azerbaijan to sign MoUs in energy sector

31 January 2018 17:37 (UTC+04:00)

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By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan is eager to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with six countries on energy, oil and gas and electric power cooperation.

These countries are Indonesia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Morocco, Iraq, as well as Turkey.

The power industry of Azerbaijan has been a dynamically developing industry throughout history and has played a dominant role in the South Caucasus region.

The electric power industry, along with the oil and gas industry, plays a leading role in the economy of Azerbaijan. It also occupies an important place in the social infrastructure. To date, there are no settlements in Azerbaijan that do not have access to electricity, and electricity is the most used energy source for the population and economic objects.

Energy development has always been one of the priority areas of the state’s economic and social policy, and sufficient funds have been allocated from the state budget for maintenance and construction of energy facilities.

Azerbaijan has significant reserves of energy resources and a powerful fuel and energy complex, which is the basis for economic development, an instrument for pursuing domestic and foreign policy.

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.

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