SOFAZ foreign currency sales hit $512.3m in August

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold funds in the amount of $512.3 million at foreign currency auctions in August, the fund’s press service has reported.

SOFAZ sold funds in the amount of $3.7 billion at foreign currency auctions in January-August 2021.

In 2020, it sold funds in the amount of $3.8 billion at foreign currency auctions.

It was earlier reported that the State Oil Fund revenues from the major oil and gas fields amounted to $2.9 billion in January-July 2021. Of these, revenues from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields, which are the largest oil fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, amounted to $2.9 billion, while the fund's revenues from the Shah Deniz field, which is among the world’s largest gas-condensate fields, amounted to $70.9 million.

Additionally, the Fund's budget revenues amounted to AZN 6.8 billion ($3.9bn), while the budget expenditures constituted AZN 4.7 billion ($2.7bn) in the first half of 2021.

Established in 1999, SOFAZ is a sovereign wealth fund, which accumulates and preserves Azerbaijan’s oil and gas revenues for future generations.

The Fund accumulates income from the sale of oil contracts, and in 2003 it started to make transfers to the state budget of Azerbaijan. As for now, SOFAZ's contribution to the country’s GDP is over 80 percent.