Azerbaijan boosts natural gas production, export in 1Q2021
By Ayya Lmahamad
Azerbaijan increased gas production and export, while decreasing oil production and export in the first quarter of 2021.
Gas production and export
During the first three months of the year, Azerbaijan increased natural gas production by 4 percent or 407 million cubic meters, compared to the same period of 2020. Thus, in the reported period, the country produced 10.4 billion cubic meters of gas.
Of the total natural gas production, the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields accounted for 3.4 billion cubic meters of gas produced and Shah Deniz for 5.1 billion cubic meters. In the meantime, SOCAR has produced 1.9 billion cubic meters of gas.
Moreover, in the reported period, gas sales abroad amounted to 5 billion cubic meters, which is by 39.5 percent more than in the same period of 2020.
Turkey accounted for 3 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijan’s natural gas export, which is by 15.8 percent more than during the same period last year. In addition, 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas were transported to Europe and 784 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia.
It should be noted that in January-March 2021, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline system was supplied with 27 million cubic meters of gas. In the meantime, 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas was exported to Turkey through TANAP.
Oil production and export
Some 8.8 million tons of oil, including condensate, were produced in Azerbaijan in the first three months of 2021, which is by 552,000 tons less than in the same period of 2020.
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields accounted for 5.9 million tons of oil, while Shah Deniz accounted for 959,000 tons of condensate. In the meantime, SOCAR’s oil production, including condensate, amounted to 1.9 million tons.
Furthermore, some 7.3 million tons of oil, including condensate, were exported in January-March, which is by 4 percent or 320,000 tons less than in the corresponding period of 2020.
The consortium accounted for 6.9 million tons of oil export, while SOCAR for 370,000 tons.
Likewise, since the commissioning of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz fields till April 1, 2021, some 561 million tons of oil, including condensate, have been produced and 560.5 million tons of oil, including condensate, exported. Some 530 million tons of crude oil were extracted from ACG, while 31 million tons condensate from Shah Deniz.
Additionally, some 180 billion cubic meters of gas was produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields and 140 billion cubic meters from the Shah Deniz field. Since commissioning, some 95 billion cubic meters of gas were exported from the Shah Deniz field.
By the end of three months of 2021, the volume of oil processing in the country amounted to 1.4 million tons, which is by 93,000 tons less than in the same period last year.
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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