Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan produced 29.6 million tons of oil from the block of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Caspian Sea in January-August, with the state oil company SOCAR accounting for 5.5 million tons of the volume, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said.

Abdullayev said that since the start of the ACG development by SOCAR and its foreign partners, about 280 million tons of oil and 74.4 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted.

Daily oil production in the country is currently 898,000 barrels.

So far, 143 wells have been drilled on the BP-operated ACG fields, of which 64 are in operation, Abdullayev said in an interview published in official media on Thursday.

The ACG fields produce most of Azerbaijan's oil. The project's shareholders are: BP (35.78 percent), SOCAR (11.65 percent), Chevron (11.27 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), Statoil (8.56 percent), ExxonMobil (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itochu (4.3 percent) and Hess (2.72 percent).

Abdullayev said around 35.2 billion cubic meters of gas and 9.3 million tons of condensate have so far been extracted from the offshore Shah Deniz gas condensate field. The average daily gas production at Shah Deniz is 24-26 million cubic meters and that of condensate -- 6,400 tons.

Abdullayev said that according to the latest data, the proven reserves of hydrocarbons in Azerbaijan exceed 4.5 billion tons of standard fuel. The projected hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 10 billion tons of fuel equivalent.

Abdullayev said Azerbaijan's gas production will increase to 20 billion cubic meters (excluding injection) by 2015 and reach 40 billion cubic meters by 2025.

"This [the production increase] will further enhance the role of Azerbaijan as a country ensuring energy security in the region and European countries," he said.