Azerbaijan reduces oil exports 3.6% from Jan-Sept to 19 mln tonnes - Energy Ministry

BAKU. Oct 16 (Interfax) - Exports of oil with condensate from Azerbaijan in January-September 2023 totaled 19 million tonnes, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said, citing operational data from the Ministry.

Based on operational data, for the nine-month period in 2023, 22.7 million tonnes of oil with condensate were produced in Azerbaijan, of which 19 million were supplied to world markets, Shahbazov wrote on social media.

During the reporting period, exports of oil and condensate from Azerbaijan decreased 3.6%, the Energy Ministry said. Of this volume, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) exported 2.3 million tonnes (a 2.1-fold increase), and the share of oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block and condensate from the Shah Deniz field totaled nearly 16.7 million tonnes (a 10.2% decrease).

As previously reported, according to operational data from the Ministry of Energy, in January-September 2023, oil production with condensate in Azerbaijan was 22.7 million tonnes, a 7.3% decrease.

This includes January-September production from the ACG block of 13.5 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 59.5% of all production in Azerbaijan during the reporting period, the Ministry said. This is 12.3% less than the previous year. The Shah Deniz field produced 3.3 million tonnes of condensate (the same level as last year), SOCAR produced 5.8 million tonnes of oil with condensate (25.6% of total oil production, and at the same level as last year), and the Absheron Fields produced 0.14 million tonnes of condensate.

The Baku oil refinery produced 4.9 million tonnes (an 8.9% increase) in the reporting period.

The Ministry said that 580.4 million tonnes of oil have been produced from the ACG block since the start of development through October 1, 2023, and 43.5 million tonnes of condensate have come from the Shah Deniz field. Over 622 million tonnes of oil and condensate from ACG and Shah Deniz have so far been exported to world markets.

The contract for the development of the Azeri, Chirag and deep-water Gunashli fields was signed and came into force in 1994. This agreement was set to expire in 2024. However, on September 14, 2017, a new contract for the development of the ACG block through 2050 was signed in Baku.

Under the new contract, the share of British BP (project operator) is 30.37%. Other participants are 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%), and Turkish TPAO (5.73%).

The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz field was signed in 1996. Gas production at the Shah Deniz field began in December 2006. The parties' share in the contract is currently as follows: BP (operator) has 29.99%, Azerbaijani Cenub Qaz Dehlizi owns 21.02%, Lukoil owns 19.99%, TPAO has 19%, and Iranian NICO owns 10%.