The Vice-President of Oil, Gas Production and Transportation at the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Rahman Gurbanov, told Natural Gas Europe that the country’s commercial gas production level increased in 2015.
Commenting on a brief review of Azerbaijan’s gas sector in 2015, Gurbanov said that for first time, the country’s commercial gas production hit 18.9 billion cubic meters in 2015, some 0.2 bcm more than the previous year.
He added that commercial gas production was raised from both Shah Deniz and Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields’ associated gas. All of these fields are operated by BP.
Azerbaijan produced 9.9 bcm of commercial gas from Shah Deniz Stage 1 in 2015, he said.
However, he said that the total gas production in Azerbaijan (including flared and re-injected gas to oil wells) reached 29.4 bcm in 2015, some 0.2 bcm less than 2014.
The Public Relations Manager for BP Azerbaijan, Tamam Bayatli, told Natural gas Europe on 25 December that the production level from Shah Deniz Stage 1 (SD1) is expected to increase in 2015 despite suspending operations for three weeks in August.
She said that currently some 29 mcm/d of gas is produced from SD1.
During 11 months of 2015 Azerbaijan exported 6 bcm of SD1’s gas, about 1.6 percent more that the same period in 2014.
Total gas export from this field in 2014 was 6.5 bcm.
“The current figures indicate that SD1’s output level to surpass 2014,” she said. SD1 output last year reached 9.8 bcm.
Details of SOCAR and Azerbaijan’s total gas output during 11 months of 2015
| 2015 | SOCAR | Azerbaijan |
| Nov | 567.2 | 2514 |
| Oct | 594.9 | 2526 |
| Sep | 580.2 | 2556 |
| Aug | 603.4 | 1844.2 |
| Jul | 605.4 | 2468 |
| Jun | 570.6 | 2327 |
| May | 576.1 | 2454.7 |
| Apr | 555.6 | 2482.3 |
| Mar | 580.4 | 2589.4 |
| Feb | 519.1 | 2330 |
| Jan | 570.2 | 2496 |
| Total | 6323 | 26587.6 |
According to SOCAR statistics, the company produced 7.223 bcm of commercial gas in 2014 and 2.776 bcm of associated gas, produced from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields, was delivered to SOCAR as well.
The country’s total gas consumption during 2014 was 11.654 bcm, while about 943 mcm of gas was lost, mostly in cross-country gas network due to aging pipelines and equipments.
Ilham Shaban is Natural Gas Europe’s expert on Caspian region energy issues
