Azerbaijan's gas production rose 4%, oil and condensate dropped 7% in Jan - ministry

BAKU. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Gas production in Azerbaijan rose 4% year-on-year in January 2023 to 4.2 billion cubic meters, the Energy Ministry said.

This includes 1.1 billion cubic meters of associated petroleum gas produced at the ACG, or Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block in January, 2.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the Shah-Deniz field, and 0.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas by SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Since the start of its development, and as of February 1, 2023, 204.6 billion cubic meters of associated gas have been produced at the ACG block, and about 185 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the Shah-Deniz field. At the same time, about 130 billion cubic meters of gas produced at Shah-Deniz were exported to world markets over the period, the ministry said.

Azerbaijan produced 2.7 million tonnes of oil with condensate in January this year. This Includes 1.6 million tonnes of oil at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block, 0.4 million tonnes of condensate at the Shah Deniz field, and 0.7 million tonnes of oil with condensate from SOCAR, Minenergo said.

Export of oil with condensate from Azerbaijan during this period was 2.1 million tonnes, of which 2 million came from the share of the ACG block and condensate from Shah-Deniz, and 134,000 tonnes from the SOCAR share.

Azerbaijan produced 2.9 million tonnes of oil with condensate in January 2022 of which 2.3 million tonnes were exported. Thus, in January 2023, oil production with condensate in the country decreased 6.9%, and exports decreased by 8.7%, the ministry said earlier.

Since the start of development, and as of February 1, 2023, 568.5 million tonnes of oil have been produced at the ACG block, and 40.6 million tonnes of condensate at the Shah-Deniz field. In total, over 607 million tonnes of oil and condensate from the ACG and Shah-Deniz were exported to world markets.

In addition, last month the volume of oil refining at the Baku Oil Refinery reached 559,000 tonnes, a decrease of 4.1%.