EIA ups forecasts for country’s petroleum output

Azerbaijan is expected to produce 0.80 million barrels of petroleum and other liquids per day in 2018.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its November Short-term Energy Outlook (STEO) that the forecasts for Azerbaijani petroleum output for 2018 have changed from the previous report.

EIA estimates that petroleum and other liquids production in Azerbaijan will stand at 0.79 million barrels per day in 2019, while it was 0.78 million barrels per day in the previous report.

The production in Azerbaijan for the fourth quarter of 2018 is forecasted at 0.79 million barrels per day, as compared to 0.78 million barrels per day in the last report.

This is while the country is expected to produce 0.80 million barrels of petroleum and other liquids per day in the first and second quarters each, 0.79 million barrels per day in the third quarter and 0.77 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter.

The Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of offshore fields is giving the major part of the oil produced in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Light oil is produced at that block.

Azerbaijan has a large number of oil fields and promising structures in the Caspian Sea.

The overwhelming part of oil produced in Azerbaijan falls on ACG block. Almost all oil from the block is exported by the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

Azerbaijan’s oil is exported from the country not only in raw form, but also in the form of oil products.

Azerbaijan’s oil products are exported to such countries as Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Singapore, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Malta, Libya, Romania, China, Spain, Bahamas and others.

A contract for development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994 for 30 years.

Thirteen companies from eight countries (Azerbaijan, the U.S., Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, Norway, Japan, Saudi Arabia) have participated in signing of the “Contract of the Century”.

The agreement will cover the development of the field until 2050 and will add significant resource development potential. The document specifies the key commercial terms for the future development of the ACG field and enables the parties to conclude negotiations and finalize fully-termed agreements in the next few months.

In January-September 2018, Azerbaijan exported 21.9 million tons of crude oil and products made of it, the cost of which amounted to $11.59 billion.

During this period, the volume of exported products increased by 43 percent and the cost approximately doubled.