SOFAZ's revenues from oil, gas fields hit $252m in January
By Ayya Lmahamad
Revenues of Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund from the country’s major oil and gas fields amounted to $252 million in January, the Fund has reported.
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields, which are the largest oil field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, accounted for $244.9 million of this revenue.
Moreover, the fund’s revenues from the Shah Deniz field, which is among the world’s largest gas-condensate fields, amounted to $3.5 million in January. In addition, revenues from the sale of condensate from Shah Deniz amounted to $3.5 million.
Earlier it was reported that SOFAZ sold funds in the amount of $644.9 million at foreign currency auctions in January 2021.
The Fund’s budget revenues amounted to AZN 9.3 billion ($5.4bn), while budget expenditures hit AZN 12.4 billion ($7.2bn) in 2020. In addition, the fund’s revenues from oil and gas agreements totaled AZN 7.3 billion ($4.2bn). Some AZN 12.2 billion ($7.1bn) were transferred to the state budget within the framework of the implementation of the Fund’s budget for 2020.
SOFAZ was established in December 1999 by the Presidential Decree and is a sovereign wealth fund of Azerbaijan, which accumulates and preserves the nation's oil and gas revenues for future generations. The fundamental mission of SOFAZ is to ensure intergenerational equality with regard to the country's oil wealth and to accumulate and safeguard the oil revenues for generations to come.
The Fund accumulates income from the sale of oil contracts, and in 2003 it started to make transfers to the state budget of Azerbaijan. As for now, SOFAZ contribution to the country’s GDP is over 80 percent.
The contract for the development of the ACG oil fields was signed on September 20, 1994, and entered force in December. The contract for the development of the ACG block was extended to 2050 in September 2017.
The shareholders in the ACG project are BP (operator, 30.37 percent), SOCAR (25 percent), MOL (9.57 percent), INPEX (9.31 percent), Equinor (7.27 percent), ExxonMobil (6.79 percent), TPAO (5.73 percent), ITOCHU (3.65 percent), ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) (2.31 percent).
The contract on the development of the Shah Deniz gas field was signed in 1996. Shareholders of Shah Deniz project are: BP (operator, 28.8 percent), TPAO (19 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), PETRONAS (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent) and NICO (10 percent).
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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