Gas Production in Azerbaijan Increased by 5% in January-August
Gas production in Azerbaijan in January-August 2023 increased by 5% compared to the same period last year – to 32.2 billion cubic meters.
According to operational data from the country’s Ministry of Energy, which is available to the Interfax-Azerbaijan agency, 8.6 billion cubic meters of associated gas were produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block in January-August (a decline of 4.4% – IF), from the Shah field -Deniz – 17.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas (an increase of 7.3%), from the Absheron gas condensate field – 0.2 billion cubic meters, by SOCAR – 5.8 billion cubic meters (an increase of 11.5%).
Since the start of development and as of September 1, 2023, 212 billion cubic meters of associated gas have been produced from the ACG block, and 200.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Shah Deniz field. At the same time, over the entire period, about 141.5 billion cubic meters of gas produced at Shah Deniz were exported to world markets.
The contract for the development of the Azeri, Chirag and deepwater Gunashli fields was signed on September 20, 1994 and came into force on December 12 of the same year. This agreement expired in 2024. However, on September 14, 2017, a new contract for the development of the ACG block, designed until 2050, was signed in Baku.
Under the new contract, the share of British bp (project operator) is 30.37%, SOCAR (25%), Hungarian MOL (9.57%), American ExxonMobil (6.79%), Indian ONGC Videsh (2.31%), Japanese Inpex Corp. (9.31%) and ITOCHU Oil (3.65%), Norwegian Equinor (7.27%), Turkish TPAO (5.73%).
The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz field was signed in Baku on June 4, 1996 and ratified by the Milli Majlis on October 17 of the same year. The parties’ share in the contract is currently as follows: bp (operator – 29.99%), LUKOIL (19.99%), TPAO (19%), Cenub Qaz Dehlizi (21.02%), NICO ( 10%).
