Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The daily volume of production at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in 2012 amounted to 664,400 barrels of oil (243.2 million barrels or 32.9 million tons per year), according to BP's annual report.

According to the results of last year, around 3.4 billion cubic meters of gas were produced by Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR, which exceeded the company's projections by 13 percent.

The overall operating expenses of the ACG field amounted to $725 million last year, and capital expenses made up $2.495 billion. According to the company's estimates for 2013, the volume of operating expenses on the ACG field will amount to $758 million and capital expenses - $2.514 billion.

The giant ACG block of fields has been producing since 1997. The production started from the Chirag part of the field and continues successfully. This was followed by the Azeri Project: Central Azeri production started in February 2005, West Azeri began producing in December 2005, and East Azeri came on stream in October 2006. The Deepwater Gunashli section launched production in April 2008.

Equity participation in the ACG contract is as follows: BP (operator) with 35.78 percent, Chevron with 11.27 percent, Inpex with 10.96 percent, AzACG with 11.65 percent, Statoil with 8.56 percent, Exxon with 8 percent, TPAO with 6.75 percent, Itochu with 4.3 percent; Hess has sold its 2.72 percent share to India's ONGC.

BP's report also said that the volume of gas production from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea amounted to approximately 7.73 billion cubic meters of gas and nearly 16.1 million barrels of condensate in 2012.

According to the report, internal and external exports from the Shah Deniz field amounted to around 37.6 billion cubic meters of gas, as well as 80 million barrels of condensate from the beginning of production at the end of 2006 to the end of 2012.

Currently, the potential daily volume of production at Shah Deniz is 27.3 million cubic meters of gas (depending on demand) and 55,000 barrels of condensate.

The total operating expenses at Shah Deniz amounted to $269.3 million in 2012. Capital expenses hit $1.1 billion. The volume of approved operating expenses will amount to $222 million and capital expenses are forecast at $2.67 billion in 2013.

The Shah Deniz field, which is one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey as well as Europe.

Azerbaijan is an important current and future supplier of both oil and natural gas. The country's share in global oil production last year totaled 1.1 percent.