Azerbaijan, Baku 7 June / Trend / From January to May 2008, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Operating Companies (OC) and Joint Ventures (JV) produced 26.6mln barrels of oil (3.6mln tons) from onshore and offshore fields of the country, which is 278,000 barrels less than the same period in 2006.
During this period, the oil and gas production units (OGPU) of SOCAR produced a total of 22.8 tons of oil (3.1mln tons), or 173,000 barrels less than the same period of 2007. In this period, foreign companies within the joint ventures (JV) and operating companies (OC) produced 3.8mln barrels of oil (518,000 tons), which is 104,000 barrels less than the production in 2007.
In accordance with the forecast, this year SOCAR, JV and OC will produce 64mln barrels (8.7mln tons) of oil. Some 55mln barrels of this volume (7.4mln tons) falls on the OGPUs of SOCAR and 9mln barrels (1.3mln tons) on JV and OCs.
In January to May total gas production in Azerbaijan constituted 3.2bln cu m, or 936mln cu m more than the same period of 2007. The oil and gas production units of SOCAR produced 3.15bln cu m of gas, or 961mln cu m more compared to same period of 2007. JVs and OCs produced 48.5mln cu m of gas in this period, or 24.7mln cu m less than in the same period of 2007.
During this period the Azerbaijan International operating Company (AIOC) produced 688mln cu m of associated gas from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field, or 524.9mln cu m less as compared to 2006.
In accordance with the forecast, this year OGPU of SOCAR will produce 7,850nln cu m of natural gas and, JV and OC - 150mln cu m of gas. Azerbaijan will lift 2.9bln cu m of gas from the Shah Deniz field. This year AIOC will give to Azerbaijan 1.4bln cu m of gas.
There are fifty-seven oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, including eighteen offshore. SOCAR staff consists of 63,000 employees.
Oil and gas production in Azerbaijan 2008:
| Oil (ths. tons) | May | January - May | ||
| 2008 | 2008 | 2007 | % | |
| Total | 738,75 | 3622,97 | 3660,68 | 99 |
| OGPUs of SOCAR | 633,04 | 3105,01 | 3128,55 | 99,2 |
| JV and OC | 105,71 | 517,96 | 532,13 | 97,3 |
| Gas(in mln cu m) | ||||
| Total | 660,77 | 3200,42 | 2264,41 | 141,3 |
| OGPUs of SOCAR | 652,81 | 3151,9 | 2191,12 | 143,8 |
| JV and OC | 7,96 | 48,52 | 73,29 | 66,2 |