By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) increased oil and gas production by 10 and 9 percent, respectively, in the third quarter of 2021.

During the reported period, SOCAR's oil and gas production amounted to 2 million tons and 2 billion cubic meters, respectively.

"The comprehensive action plan to maintain stable production levels in the oil and gas fields operated by the company has been consistently implemented," the company's report read.

Meanwhile, SOCAR achieved growth in drilling and production in the third quarter of 2021. The company conducted more than 20,000 meters of drilling, which is by 82 percent more than in the same period last year.

In the third quarter of the year, the country's oil and gas output totaled 8.7 million tons and more than 11.3 billion cubic meters, respectively. This means a 6 percent increase in oil production and a 38.6 percent increase in gas production. The company noted that the increase in oil output was mainly due to the gradual easing of production cuts under the OPEC+ deal.

Moreover, the company exported 4.5 million tons of oil, which is by 22 percent more than in the corresponding period of 2020. That includes both the crude sales of SOCAR and the crude, exported on behalf of the state of Azerbaijan.

The country's natural gas exports increased by 48 percent to 4.4 billion cubic meters. During the reporting period, 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas was consumed in the country, which is 8 percent more than the same period last year.

In July-September 2021, SOCAR refined 1.8 million tons of oil, which is 46.5 percent more than in the same period last year.

"This sharp increase is related to the periodic maintenance carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery in the third quarter of last year. However, the plant did not stop its operations for periodic maintenance in Q3 this year," the report said.

During the quarter, SOCAR's Gas Processing Plant processed 812 million cubic meters of gas.

Additionally, the export volume of oil and gas refining and petrochemical products exported by the company increased significantly in the third quarter. SOCAR exported 1.1 million tons of petrochemical and refined petroleum products, which is a 88 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

"Of course, the above-mentioned reason played an important role in the production increase at the refinery. At the same time, exports of chemical products such as high-pressure polyethylene, absolute isopropyl alcohol and carbamide showed significant growth," the company noted.