BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.18
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The amount of oil extracted in Georgia is 40 times smaller than the country buys in refined or imported forms, Trend reports with reference to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
In 2019, Georgia extracted 35,100 tons of crude oil, 16 percent more than in 2018.
According to the Oil and Gas Corporation, the oil extraction activities in the country are carried out by 6 investors: Ninotsminda Oil Company; Schlumberger Rustaveli Company (Georgia) Limited; Frontera Resources Georgia; VPI Georgia; "Norio Khevi Georgia".
According to the corporation, oil exploration works are carried out by 7 investor companies in the country, namely: "GOG Limited"; "Elenilto"; "Marexin;" "Georgia New Ventures Inc.;" "Norio Oil Company;" "West Gulf Petroleum Engineering Company" and "Coalition Energy Limited Company."
According to the Oil and Gas Corporation, the average annual oil production in Georgia over the last ten years is 43,600 tons. Accordingly, despite a 16 percent increase in extraction in 2019, it was lower than the 10-year average.
As for refining, there are two refineries in Georgia, namely "Zd Oil Company" and "Globe" Ltd. The refineries are engaged in refining both local and imported oil. They refined a total of 37,000 tons of oil in 2019.
Of these two companies, only ZD Oil Company has submitted its financial report for 2019, according to which the company generated 45 million lari ($13.7 million) in revenue and 3.4 million lari ($1.03 million) in net profit from the sale of refined oil.
As for the total local consumption, in 2019, Georgia consumed 544,000 tons of gasoline, 534,000 tons of diesel, 104,000 tons of aviation oil, and 170,000 bitumen. In total, the cost of importing petroleum products exceeded $800 million.
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