Azerbaijan cuts gas losses

Azerbaijan’s state statistical committee reports that in Jan-Sep 2016 the amount of gas lost in onshore pipes was 3.3% (525mn m³), down from 4.4% (735mn m³) in 3-Qs of 2015. 

Last year, 1.02bn m³ of gas were lost in the pipework.

The Azerbaijani government forecasts oil production at 39.797mn mt for 2017, 3.7% less than 2016. This was reported in the budget bill for 2017, which are presented by the Government to Parliament to be ratified. According to government forecasts, gas production (including re-injection) in 2017 will amount to 28.39bn m³, which is 2.9% less than 2016.The volume of Azerbaijan’s commercial gas production and storage amounted to 15.9bn m³ in the first three quarters of 2016, about 800mn m³, or by 4.8% less than the same period in 2015, State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan reported.

During this period, about 13.96bn m³ of commercial gas was produced, while the amount of stored gas in the underground gas storage facilities stood at 1.94bn m³.

In 9 months, about 42.9% of sales gas volumes were used in the domestic market (6.82bn m³), 36.2% (5.76bn m³) was exported, and 17.6% (2.8bn m³) was pumped into underground storage facilities. For the same period last year, the figures were 45.9%, 34.8% and 14.9%, respectively.

For 2016, oil production in Azerbaijan is expected to reach 41.306mn mt, and gas output 29.242bn m³. In 2015, the figures were 41.628mn mt and 29.175bn m³ respectively.

Ilham Shaban

Natural Gas World