SOCAR reveals oil and gas production figures

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR has revealed the volume of oil produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

Khoshbakht Yusifzade, first vice-president of SOCAR, said some 368 million metric tons of oil was extracted from ACG field from November 1997 to present day.

Speaking at the 22nd international Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference in Baku on June 4, Yusifzade noted that 200 million metric tons of this volume accounts for Azerbaijan’s share of profit.

“During the same period, the volume of associated gas production at ACG stood at 109 billion cubic meters,” he said, adding that the daily production from the block of fields is 90,000 metric tons of oil and 34 million cubic meters of gas.

SOCAR’s first vice president went on adding that some 62 billion cubic meters of gas and 16 million metric tons of condensate has been produced at Shah Deniz gas and condensate field since the beginning of its operation.

“Currently, the total volume of Azerbaijani gas export to Turkey is 34 billion cubic meters, while 4.6 billion cubic meters is exported to Georgia,” he said.

Currently, the total proven oil and gas reserves in Azerbaijan near 2 billion metric tons and 2.6 trillion cubic meters respectively, while the projected reserves is near 6 billion cubic meters of gas and 4 billion metric tons of oil, Yusifzade added.

In his remarks Rahman Gurbanov, vice-president of SOCAR on oil-gas production and transportation, said that in 2015 the company expects to produce about 30.3 million metric tons of oil from ACG field. Last year this figure was equal to 31.4 million metric tons.

“In 2015, production of associated gas on the block is projected at 13.8 billion cubic meters, while last year this figure amounted to 12.5 billion cubic meters,” Gurbanov added.

He went on to add that 3.1 billion cubic meters of gas will be transferred to SOCAR from ACG in 2015, while some 9.2 billion cubic meters of gas will be pumped into the reservoirs.

The contract for development of ACG field was signed in 1994. The proven oil reserve of the block nears 1 billion metric tons.

The shareholders of the project are BP (operator in ACG) - 35.78 percent, Chevron - 11.27 percent, Inpex - 10.96 percent, AzACG - 11.65 percent, Statoil - 8.56 percent, Exxon - 8 percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itocu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent.

Gurbanov also said in 2015 it expects to produce about 40.7 million metric tons of oil in Azerbaijan, while gas production in the country is forecasted at 30.2 billion cubic meters.

In 2014, oil production in Azerbaijan amounted to 42 million metric tons, while gas production to 29.6 billion cubic meters.

Azerbaijan’s energy giant SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan.

Three production divisions, two oil refineries and one gas processing plant, an oil tanker fleet, a deep water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 22 subdivisions are operating as corporate entities under SOCAR.