BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 17. This week it has become known that the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Romania's Romgaz signed the agreement on supplying gas from Azerbaijan to Romania on December 16, Trend reports.
The mentioned agreement was signed as part of the Azerbaijan-EU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a strategic energy partnership of July 18, 2022 in Baku. The memorandum is to increase the delivery of natural gas to the EU and contribute to energy security.
According to statistics, Azerbaijan exported 10.3 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, 7.6 billion to Türkiye, and 2.2 billion cubic meters to Georgia from January through November 2022.
In the reporting period, 42.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas was manufactured in Azerbaijan. This figure increased by seven percent, or 2.8 billion cubic meters a year over year.
Meantime, the work on Turkmen gas transmission to Europe is also being carried out jointly with Azerbaijan.
Thus, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that a joint working group would be created for this.
"We are taking effective steps with Azerbaijan within the framework of various mechanisms. Azerbaijani natural gas is transported through the Southern Gas Corridor and TANAP [Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline] to Europe. On the issue of natural gas in Turkmenistan we are also ready to take joint steps in favor of the three countries, and we decided to set up the relevant working group. The memorandum of understanding signed today on energy cooperation also creates the necessary framework," Cavusoglu said.
In turn, as US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried said, the US is studying possible ways to support the supply of Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan plays an important role in the diversification and security of energy supply in the region. We have worked closely with Azerbaijan in the field of energy security. The US strongly supports the Southern Gas Corridor. The SGC contributes to the diversification of routes and sources of energy imports to Europe, which is now a US policy priority. The country is exploring possible ways to support Turkmen gas supplies to Azerbaijan to increase the availability of non-Russian natural gas," she said.
The outgoing week was also remembered for forecasts regarding the production of liquid hydrocarbons in Azerbaijan.
Thus, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects that oil production in Azerbaijan in 2022 will amount to 0.67 million barrels per day.
The agency estimates that Azerbaijan's oil output in 2023 will equal 0.67 million barrels per day, remaining unchanged from the previous report. In the first and second quarters of 2023, the country's oil production is projected at 0.68 million and 0.67 million barrels per day, respectively.
According to OPEC forecasts, in 2022, the production of liquid hydrocarbons in Azerbaijan is estimated to decrease by 27,000 barrels per day compared to 2021 and average 0.7 million barrels per day.
"Forecasts for this indicator decreased by 21,000 bpd due to lower-than-expected production from major oil fields in the fourth quarter of 2022," OPEC said.