Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17
Trend:
The annual oil production at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field last year exceeded the forecasts, Trend reports with reference to the Accounts Chamber on the Budget Execution of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ).
The oil production amounted to 104 percent; that is, 213.5 million barrels of oil were produced against the the forecast of 204.4 million barrels.
In monetary terms, $9.474 billion was received from the sale of oil, which is 26.2 percent more than the forecast figures.
Additional profits arose not only due to increased production, but also through the high average oil prices. In the budget forecasts, the expected average annual oil price was set at $55 per barrel, whereas in reality, for the year, the weighted average cost of a barrel stood at $71.
According to the report, gas production from the Shah Deniz field for the year amounted to 11.30 billion cubic meters, which is in line with forecasts. This is while the expectations regarding the gas condensate were not justified: 20.3 million barrels were produced compared to the forecast of 21.8 million, which shows decrease by 1.5 percent
As a result, revenues from the sale of condensate were lower than expected and amounted to 86.4 percent. compared to the forecast of $283.9 million, SOFAZ received about $245.4 million.
At the same time, SOFAZ did not receive funds from the sale of natural gas. A significant amount of gas under the first phase of the Shah Deniz contract between buyers and SOCAR (as a government representative), was acquired by SOCAR itself. Thus, funds aimed at purchasing the gas in the amount of $650.55 million ($135.3 million in 2016, $272.2 million in 2017 and $288.4 million in 2018) did not go to the SOFAZ budget.