Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Gas production in Azerbaijan will be able to cover the lack of gas being imported from Russia in 2007, the First Vice President on Geology, Geophysics, and Development of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh, stated on 7 June.
Import of gas from Russia was suspended on 1 January, 2007 due to the profound rise of prices by Gasprom (Russian gas company).
According to Yusifzadeh, the total gas balance for Azerbaijan will make up 10.9bln cu m in 2007 including the gas produced in Shah Daniz field (2.7bln cu m) and casing-head gas from Azer-Chirag-Guneshli field (3.2bln cu m). SOCAR will produce 5bln cu m of gas in its fields.
"In 2010, over 22bln cu m of gas will be produced in Azerbaijan. However, the country will go on with geological exploration," Yusifzadeh said.
In 2007, some 5.7bln cu m of natural gas will be produced in Shah Daniz.
The contract on developing the off-shore Shah Daniz field was signed on 4 June, 1996 by the following parties: BP (operator) - 25.5%; Statoil - 25.5%; NICO - 10%; Total - 10%; LukAgip - 10%; TPAO- 9%; and SOCAR - 10%.