Azerbaijan reaches new record in commercial gas production

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Wednesday 06 Jan 2016 - 12:18 Makkah mean time-26-3-1437 Baku, (IINA) - The energy-rich Azerbaijan, aiming to bring the Caspian gas to Europe, has increased commercial gas production level in 2015 to the highest level in the history of the country, Azernews reported. Vice-President of Azerbaijan’s energy giant SOCAR Rahman Gurbanov made the remark while talking to Natural Gas Europe. Gurbanov said that the country’s commercial gas production hit 18.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2015 for the first time, some 0.2 bcm more than in 2014. He added that commercial gas production was raised from both Shah Deniz and Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields’ associated gas. All of these fields are operated by BP. Almost all of Azerbaijan's natural gas is produced in two offshore fields—the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli complex and Shah Deniz. The Shah Deniz natural gas and condensate field started producing in late 2006, making Azerbaijan a net gas exporter. Azerbaijan's proven natural gas reserves were roughly 35 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) as of January 2014. The vast majority of these reserves are associated with the Shah Deniz field. Discoveries of the Absheron and Umid formations between 2010-11 added a further 15 Tcf of resources estimated in place. Most of Azerbaijan's natural gas is destined for Turkey, but the country supplies a small volume to Greece via the Turkey-Greece interconnector. Under a previous arrangement, Turkey was re-exporting Azerbaijani natural gas to Greece, but a new agreement allows Azerbaijan to directly export volumes to Europe. The Shah Deniz Stage 2 will result in increased exports to Europe once the needed infrastructure is completed. The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will transport the Shah Deniz natural gas through Turkey. This pipeline will run from the Georgia-Turkey border to the Turkey-Greece border. The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will link to TANAP and transport Azerbaijan's natural gas exports through Greece and Albania to Italy. AG/IINA