Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 2
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The government of Azerbaijan will keep oil production volumes in 2016-2019 at the level of 40 million tons per year, Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry of Azerbaijan Sevinc Hasanova said Oct. 2.
She made the remarks during the discussion of the draft state budget for 2016 at the joint session of parliamentary committees on economic policy, social policy, agrarian policy, natural resources, energy and environment, as well as security issues.
"As you know, oil production in Azerbaijan has reached its peak performance [approximately 51 million tons] in 2010, and then slowdown of production began," she said. "In the medium term, we expect oil production to fluctuate in the range of 40 million tons a year."
She went on to add that oil production is projected at 40.7 million tons in 2016.
At the same time, Hasanova said that in 2016, the share of oil sector in GDP will not exceed 30 percent, and the decline in the production of value added in the oil sector is projected at 1.7 percent.
"In 2016, as in the previous years, the economic growth of Azerbaijan will be achieved through non-oil sector," she said. "Taking into account the slowdown of fiscal impulses, a return to a sustainable level of growth is projected. It is expected that the growth of non-oil sector will amount to 5.9 percent by late 2015, while a 3.4 percent growth is projected in 2016."
The volume of oil and gas condensate production in Azerbaijan stood at 27.9 million tons in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 2.6 percent less than in the same period of 2014.
This is while 41.9 million tons of oil and gas condensate was produced in Azerbaijan in 2014, compared to 43.1 million tons in 2013.
Edited by CN