BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.11
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Gas injection into storages in Azerbaijan this year began in March, an informed source in the country’s oil and gas market told Trend.
The source noted that the volume of gas in storages at the beginning of injection stood at 1.253 billion cubic meters.
“To date, 1.632 billion cubic meters of gas has been injected into storages. The volume of gas in storages stands at 2.885 billion cubic meters as of August 1, 2020,” noted the source.
In the second quarter of 2020, SOCAR produced 1.8 million tons of oil and 1.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The country’s natural gas production increased by 14 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 9.4 billion cubic meters. Crude oil production totaled 8.6 million tons nationwide. The volume of drilling, performed by SOCAR, exceeded 15 thousand meters, a decrease from the same period of last year. This was due to the decrease in global oil demand as the results of COVID-19 pandemic and temporary oil production cut under the OPEC+ agreement. Production and drilling were suspended mainly on the onshore fields with low profitability.
In the second quarter, SOCAR’s refining output was about 1.5 million tons of oil, 804 million cubic meters of natural gas. The oil refining depth reached 94.93 percent.
The company exported more than 5 million tons of crude oil. The country’s total natural gas export was about 3 billion cubic meters, a 22.5 percent increase from the 2nd quarter of 2019. SOCAR’s autonomous natural gas export amounted to 138 million cubic meters. Oil refinery and petrochemical products exports reached 671 thousand tons in April- June 2020.
In the second quarter of the year more than 2.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas were consumed in Azerbaijan. A 20.5 percent increase in consumption was registered among the households, whilst the gas consumption in the industrial and energy sectors slightly decreased.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn