Review of oil and gas operations in Azerbaijan (January-August 2015)

1. FEC

а) Oil and Gas Production

The volume of oil and gas condensate production in Azerbaijan stood at 27.9 million tons in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 2.6 percent less than in the same period of 2014, said the report from the country's State Statistics Committee.

This is while 41.9 million tons of oil and gas condensate were produced in Azerbaijan in 2014, compared to 43.1 million tons in 2013.

The major part of oil produced in 2014 accounted for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil and gas fields and Shah Deniz gas and condensate field which are developed jointly with foreign partners.

The commercial gas production in the country stood at 12.85 billion cubic meters in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 4.2 percent more than in the first eight months of 2014.

The commercial gas production in Azerbaijan totaled 18.7 billion cubic meters in 2014, compared to 17.9 billion cubic meters in 2013.

The volume of investments made in Azerbaijan's oil sector stood at 4.77 billion Azerbaijani manat in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 17.2 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

The volume of drilling work carried out by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) (excluding joint ventures and operating companies) in Jan.-Aug. 2015 stood at 73,963 meters, or 17.24 percent less than in the same period of 2014 (89,375 meters).

Of the total volume of drilling work carried out by SOCAR during the reporting period, 72,963 meters accounted for development drilling, while the remaining 1,000 meters - exploration drilling.

SOCAR has commissioned 45 new wells since early 2015, the statement said.

SOCAR continued repairing the existing and drilling the new wells in August as part of the program of stabilizing and increasing the volumes of oil production from offshore and onshore fields conducted by SOCAR independently (without taking into account the operating companies and joint ventures).

- Drilling trust of SOCAR has started drilling of a new well on the offshore field "Bulla Deniz".

The depth of the well is 6,200 meters.

"According to the estimates of geologists, some 150 metric tons of condensate and 800,000 cubic meters of gas will be produced from the well daily," the statement said.

SOCAR has put into operation a new well at 'Oil Rocks' field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The daily flow rate of the well No. 2613, drilled from the platform No.418A, is 10 metric tons of oil, the statement said.

SOCAR has commissioned a new well on the Guneshli field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The well No.80 was commissioned after the geological-technical operations in the range of 3,075-3,052 meters and its daily debit equals to 100,000 cubic meters of gas.

The news of the operating companies and joint ventures:

BP completed the scheduled preventive maintenance on the platform of the largest gas and condensate 'Shah Deniz' field in Azerbaijan.

"The preventive maintenance work was completed," said BP. "The tests were conducted. The production at the field was resumed."

Great Britain's BP company has drilled a new well at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The depth of the well C32 is 4,946 meters, according to the source. The well was drilled from West Azeri platform.

The Salyan Oil operating company, which develops the Kursengi and Garabagli onshore fields in Azerbaijan, has produced about 100,000 metric tons of oil since early 2015.

"As of 2015, the volume of production at the fields was estimated at about 180,000 metric tons," said the source.

The source said that currently about 480 metric tons of oil per day is produced from the Kursengi and Garabagli fields.

The oil and gas production volumes are to be maintained at the level of 2015 in Azerbaijan in 2016, Reuters reported, referring to a SOCAR representative.

"It is planned to produce 40 million tons of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of gas in 2016," the representative said. This is about the same level that we have planned for the current year."

Some 40.7 million tons of oil and 30.2 billion cubic meters of gas are expected to be produced in Azerbaijan in 2015.

b) Processing

The volume of diesel fuel production totaled 1.92 million tons in Azerbaijan in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 5.9 percent more than in the same period of 2014, said the report from the country's State Statistics Committee as of the first eight months of 2015.

Currently, SOCAR is modernizing its processing facilities, as the fuel consumption has increased in the country.

In total, almost 3.62 million tons of petroleum products were produced in Azerbaijan in Jan.-Aug. 2015, compared to 3.1 million tons in the same period of 2014.

Over 5.31 million tons of petroleum products were produced in Azerbaijan in 2014, compared to 5.09 million tons in 2013.

Below is the summary table of petroleum products' output in Azerbaijan:

2. Chemical complex

Azerbaijan produced 64,000 metric tons of polyethylene in Jan.-Aug. 2015, or 10.3 percent more than in the same period of 2014, the country's State Statistics Committee said in its report as of Jan.-Aug. 2015. Moreover, 35,900 metric tons of polypropylene were produced in Azerbaijan in Jan.-Aug. or 3.9 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

During the reporting period, Azerbaijan produced 38,300 metric tons of barium sulfate, or 22.4 percent more than in Jan.-Aug. 2014. The report said that the country produced 6,330 metric tons of isopropyl alcohol, or 89.9 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

In general, the report said that Azerbaijan saw growth in the production of majority of main chemical products in the first eight months of 2015.

The output of main types of chemical products:

The country produced 8,990 metric tons of solid polyethylene pipes, tubes, hoses in Jan.-Aug., or 18.5 percent less than in Jan.-Aug. 2014.

3. Electricity

­Azerbaijan generated 15.55 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in January-August 2015, or 1.7 percent more than in the same period of 2014, the country's State Statistics Committee said in its January-August 2015 report.

Of the total volume of electricity generation, some 14.81 billion kilowatt hours accounted for commercial electricity, which is 1.7 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

Moreover, of the total volume of commercial electricity generated in January-August 2015, around 13.65 billion kilowatt hours accounted for thermal electricity (87.8 percent of the total volume of electricity generation), which is 0.1 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

Azerbaijan's hydro power plants produced 1.16 billion kilowatt hours of commercial electricity in January-August, which is 25.1 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

Wind power generation facilities produced 4.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity in January-August 2015.

Azerbaijan produced 23.11 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2014, or 6.7 percent more than in 2013.

Azerenergy JSC is the main producer of electricity in Azerbaijan. It has over 200 substations with a capacity of 500, 330, 220 and 110 kilovolt amperes, as well as ten hydro power plants and 14 thermal power plants.

The generation capacity of Azerbaijan's power supply system has increased by 30 percent over the last five years. Currently, its capacity is 7,105 megawatt. This generates around 24 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and export 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

Today, Azerbaijan is transferring the flow of electricity to Georgia, Iran and Russia.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) will assist Azerbaijan in improving infrastructure, the BSTDB strategy for cooperation with Azerbaijan in 2015-2018 says. In particular, the BSTDB will focus on the projects that include upgrading and expanding the traditional energy infrastructure to promote electricity generation, transmission and distribution inside and outside Azerbaijan. The bank will also seek to support the economically viable projects in the renewable energy sector.