Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend S.Aliyev / The oil production in Azerbaijan in 2008 is forecasted at the level of 53mln tons, a Government source stated on 24 December. Of them, nearly 45mln tons of oil falls on Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields developed by the consortium headed by BP. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) plans to produce nearly 8.75mln tons of oil.
Next year some 11.237bln cu.m of gas will be transferred to Azerbaijan. Of them, 7bln cu.m of gas will be supplied to SOCAR, 1.4bln - associated gas from ACG and 2.9bln from Shah Deniz field.
A production Sharing Agreement on ACG was signed in September 1994. The efficiency term of PSA is 30 years. Production from Chirag was set up in 1997, in Central Azeri - early 2005, West Azeri - early 2006, East Azeri - late 2006. The commencement of the production from the Deepwater Guneshli field is scheduled for mid 2008. ACG Participating Interests are: BP (operator - 34,1%), Chevron (10,2%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (10%), Statoil (8,6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5,6%), ITOCHU (3,9%), Amerada Hess (2,7%).
The contract on the development of "Shahdaniz" field was signed in 1996 in Baku. The parties to the project are: BP (the operator - 25,5%), Statoil - 25,5%, SOCAR, LUKoil, NICO and TOTAL- both 10%, and TPAO - 9%. The gas production in the field commenced in December 2006. Currently the gas from the Shah Deniz field is being delivered to Azerbaijan and Georgia via South Caucasus Pipeline. Azerbaijan also puchases gas from the field. Currently three wells on the Shah Deniz field are working in the field with nearly 16bln cu.m of gas per day. The fourth well is planned to be put into operation. Two more wells are envisaged to be put into operation next year.
Next year the SOCAR intends to produce 8bln cu.m of gas in 2008 as a result of realizing the program on increasing own gas production. Of them, some 8bln cu.m will be transferred to Azerigaz JSC for being distributed to subscribers and as fuel to produce electricity in electric power stations.