Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan exported 7.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 29.498 million tons of oil and oil products in 2018.

Last year, country's export of crude oil and crude oil products from bituminous minerals amounted to 29.498 million tons.

The amount of crude oil produced exceeded $ 15,719 billion, Report informs referring to the State Customs Committee.

In the reporting period, the share of exported crude oil and crude oil products in Azerbaijan's total export amounted to 80.78 percent last year.

In 2018, the volume of exported crude oil and crude oil products grew by 8 percent compared to 2017 and 47 percent in value.

Azerbaijan produced 38.802 million tons of oil in 2018, which is 849 900 tons more than forecasted.

At the same time, Azerbaijan exported over 7.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2018. The amount of the exported natural gas exceeded $ 1.499 billion.

During the reporting period, natural gas exports grew by 4.7 percent and the value of 25.5 percent since 2017.

In 2018, 30.422 billion cubic meters of gas produced in Azerbaijan, exceeding the forecast by 500 million cubic meters.

The share of natural gas in total exports in Azerbaijan amounted to 7.71 percent in 2018.

Currently, 110,000 tons of oil and 94 million cubic meters of gas are extracted on average per day in Azerbaijan, from offshore and onshore fields, as well as Shah Deniz, Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Umid fields, which are jointly operated with foreign companies.

ACG is the largest oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea, covering more than 432 square kilometers. A contract for the development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994 for 30 years. Oil extraction from the field began in November 1997.

The oil produced from the ACG field is exported to the world markets through the Sangachal Terminal, mainly through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the West Stream Pipeline to Supsa.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, which is considered to be the main artery of energy export in the region, has played an important role in the extraction of the Caspian Sea's rich energy resources and bringing them to the world markets.

Azerbaijan’s oil is exported from the country not only in raw form, but also in the form of oil products.

Proven oil reserves of ACG block of oil and gas fields are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves make 350 billion cubic meters.

On September 14, 2017, a modified and re-developed agreement was signed on joint development and shared distribution of production from the Azeri, Chirag fields and the deepwater part of the Gunashli field (ACG). The new agreement provides for the development of the field until 2050.

The ACG participating interests are as follows: BP - 30.37 percent; AzACG (SOCAR) - 25 percent; Chevron - 9.57 percent; INPEX - 9.31 percent; Statoil - 7.27 percent; ExxonMobil - 6.79 percent; TP - 5.73 percent; ITOCHU - 3.65 percent; ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) - 2.31 percent.

The Shah Deniz gas field is still the biggest discovery of BP after the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska.

Discovered in 1999, Shah Deniz field covers approximately 860 square kilometres.

Shah Deniz is a giant gas condensate field, reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million tonnes of condensates. Within the second stage of field development, the volume of gas production can be increased to 24 billion cubic meters per year, according to forecasts.

The discovery of the giant Shah Deniz field and the successful implementation of the Shahdeniz gas project, Azerbaijan is a country that exports a large amount of natural gas to the world.

Shah Deniz Consortium has spent $ 1.558 billion on the development project of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

So far, the total gas production from the Shah Deniz field has reached 100 billion cubic meters. Since 2006, more than 196 million barrels of condensate have been produced in the Shah Deniz field in total.

The project participants are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent), NİKO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).

The main objective of the project is delivery of Caspian gas supplies to European markets via Southern Gas Corridor that will help to increase Europe's energy security. Europe's energy policy is based on diversification of the energy supplies to overcome energy dependence on one source, as Russian gas meets the energy needs of most European countries at present.

The Southern Gas Corridor, $ 40 billion worth project, envisages the transportation of gas to Turkey and Europe through the pipeline, which will be operated within the second stage of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The Southern Gas Corridor consists of four projects: Shah Deniz 2, Expansion of South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum), the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). The projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion.

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