Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
Production of deep gas (deep reservoir-lying under the oil formation) at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields will start in 2026, said Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natig Aliyev.
He made the remarks while addressing the 24th International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference 2017 in Baku June 1.
According to him, Azerbaijan plans to produce up to 44.5 billion cubic meters of gas until 2020.
“The main increase in gas production is expected thanks to the second stage of development of the Shah Deniz field,” said Aliyev.
He noted that according to forecasts for 2017, gas output in Azerbaijan is expected to be 28.5 billion cubic meters, 27.7 billion cubic meters – in 2018, 32.8 billion cubic meters – in 2019 and 44.5 billion cubic meters – in 2020.
Gas output by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR will be stable – at a level of 6.4 billion cubic meters per year, said the minister adding that the output of associated gas from the ACG block is forecasted at a level of 12 billion cubic meters per year.
“In 2020-2021, it is planned to start gas output from the Absheron field, and in 2026 deep gas output may be started at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block. Meanwhile, the possibility of development of the Nakhchivan, Shafag-Asiman and Karabakh fields in the near future is currently being viewed,” added Aliyev.
Reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. A contract for development of the field was signed on June 4, 1996.
Shah Deniz Stage 2 will add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year of gas production to the approximately 9 billion cubic meters per year produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.
A contract for development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994.
The shareholders in the project are BP (operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli, 35.78 percent), Chevron (11.28 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.65 percent), Statoil (8.55 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itochu (4.3 percent) and ONGC (2.72 percent).
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