Azerbaijan can become world leader in use of new raw hydrocarbons by 2030

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan can be a world leader in use of new raw hydrocarbons in 2030.

Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), academician Ibrahim Guliyev made this remark at a meeting of the ANAS presidium on September 21.

Guliyev said that for several years, the Institute of Oil and Gas together with German colleagues has been conducting thermal monitoring of hydrocarbon gases released by mud volcanoes. The results of the researches will subsequently form the basis for creating a renewable hydrocarbon source system.

One of the most important tasks ahead, according to the academician, is to conduct fundamental research in the field of intellectual oil and gas reserves. “To solve problems in this sphere it is necessary to apply new methods based on supercomputer technologies,” he added.  

Guliyev emphasized that the Institute of Oil and Gas is already forecasting the development of various industries, including making and testing mathematical models of dynamics of oil and gas prices changing with due regard to market requirement.

During the event, ANAS Presidium decided to approve the geophysical and geochemical exploration of oil fields at great depths, the fundamental study of the intellectual fields, the scientific study of fields of hydrocarbon gases, and the recovery of oil and gas reserves at the mud volcanoes as the priority areas for the Institute. The priority areas also include the geological and chemical study of light tight oil and gas, the study of economics of the oil industry and geoecological problems.

Experts claim that Azerbaijan can provide itself with an excess of traditional hydrocarbon resources in the coming decades. 

The presence of huge resources of unconventional hydrocarbons shows that the country will remain one of the major players in the global energy market for decades.

By signing the "Contract of the Century" the oil industry of the country began to revive and, today, despite the complexity of the geopolitical and the erratic situation in the market, oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan is stable enough.

In 2016, oil reserves in Azerbaijan are estimated at $7 billion barrels, daily production is about 841,000 and a daily intake is about 99,000 barrels.

The stability is connected with the presence of the giant Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz reserves, which have considerable geological resources and unopened formations.

Noteworthy, BP Company started applying hydraulic fracturing on the Azerbaijani field Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli long before the shale revolution in the USA.