SOCAR Extends Natural Gas Production by 37% in January - July

Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 August / Trend / From January to July 2008, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Operating Companies (OC) and Joint Ventures (JV) produced 37.3mln barrels of oil (over 5mln tons) from onshore and offshore fields of the country, which is 488,800 barrels more than the same period in 2007.

During this period, the oil and gas production units (OGPU) of SOCAR produced a total of 31.9mln barrels of oil (over 4.3mln tons), or 321,900 barrels less than the same period of 2007. In this period, foreign companies within the joint ventures (JV) and operating companies (OC) produced 5.3mln barrels of oil (about 725,700 tons), which is 167,000 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 July total gas production in Azerbaijan constituted 4.5bln cu m, or 1.2bln cu m more than the same period of 2007. The oil and gas production units of SOCAR produced 4.4bln cu m of gas, or 1.3bln cu m more compared to same period of 2007. JVs and OCs produced 64.5mln cu m of gas in this period, or 44.1mln cu m less than in the same period of 2007.

During this period the Azerbaijan International operating Company (AIOC) produced 991.4mln cu m of associated gas from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field, or 670.6mln cu m less as compared to 2007.

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: