Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 March / Trend / From Jan to Feb 2008, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), operation companies (ОC) and joint ventures (JV) produced 1.4mln tons of oil on the onshore and offshore fields, which is by 15,500 tons less as compared to 2007, SOCAR reports.
The oil production by the Oil and Gas Production Department (OSPD) made up 1.2mln tons from the onshore and offshore from Jan to Feb, which is 8,300 tons less as compared to 2006. The foreign companies produced 201,000 tons of oil, which is 7,000 tons less as compared to 2007.
According to the forecasts, this year SOCAR, JV and OC will produce 8.7mln tons of oil, with 7.430mln tons belonging to SOCAR and 1.270mln tons to JV and OC.
In January, the total volume of gas production made up 1.25bln of cu m in Azerbaijan, which is 373mln of cu m more as compared to 2007. Out of that, 1.22bln cu.m was produced by SOCAR only, an increase of 380mln cu.m from 2007. OC and JV produced 21mln m of gas, which is 5.6mln cu.m less than as compared to the same period in 2007.
The Azerbaijani International Operating Company (AIOC) produced 291mln cu.m of casing-head gas on the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field for SOCAR, which is 172.5mln cu.m as less compared to 2007.
According to forecasts, in 2008, SOCAR will produce 7.85bln cu.m of gas, OC and JV - 150mln cu.m. Azerbaijan will receive 2.9bln cu.m of gas from Shah Deniz. This year, the AIOC will transfer 1.4bln cu.m of gas to Azerbaijan.
There are 57 oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan. Eighteen are onshore and the rest are offshore. There are about 60,000 workers in SOCAR.
Oil and gas production in Azerbaijan in 2008:
| Oil(thousand of tons) | February | January-February | ||
| 2008 | 2008 | 2007 | % | |
| Total | 691,37 | 1428,28 | 1443,86 | 98,9 |
| OSPD SOCAR | 592,51 | 1227,37 | 1235,64 | 99,3 |
| OC and JV | 98,86 | 200,91 | 208,22 | 96,5 |
| Gas(mln. m3) | ||||
| Total | 608,87 | 1246,82 | 873,58 | 142,7 |
| OSPD SOCAR | 598,47 | 1225,56 | 846,73 | 144,7 |
| OC and JV | 10,4 | 21,26 | 26,85 | 79,2 |
| AIOC (for SOCAR) | 152,56 | 290,99 | 463,47 | 62,8 |