By BAKU. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Oil production with condensate in Azerbaijan in January-April 2023 was 10.2 million tonnes, which is 8.1% less than in the same period of 2022.
The Ministry of Energy reported that, including the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, or ACG block, 6.2 million tonnes of oil with condensate (60.8% of total production), was produced, which was an 11.4% decrease YoY. The Shah Deniz Field produced 1.5 million tonnes of condensate, which was the same level as in 2022, and SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan produced 2.5 million tonnes of oil with condensate, which was a 3.8% decrease.
In January-April, 8.5 million tonnes of oil with condensate was exported from Azerbaijan, down 4.5% YoY. This includes 7.6 million tonnes of oil with condensate from the ACG block and Shah Deniz field, and 847,000 tonnes from SOCAR.
The volume of oil refining at the Baku Oil Refinery in the reporting period reached 2.2 million tonnes, a 22.2% increase.
Since the start of development and as of May 1, 2023, about 573 million tonnes of oil have been produced from the ACG block, and over 42 million tonnes of condensate have come from the Shah Deniz field. In total, 612.8 million tonnes of oil from ACG and condensate from Shah Deniz have been exported to world markets so far, the ministry said.
The contract for the development of the Azeri, Chirag and deep-water Gunashli fields was signed in 1994, and expired in 2024. In September 2017, a new contract was signed for the development of the ACG block through 2050.
Under the new contract, the share of project operator British BP plc is 30.37%, SOCAR has 25%, Hungarian MOL owns 9.57%, American ExxonMobil has 6.79%, Indian ONGC Videsh has 2.31%, Japanese Inpex Corp. and ITOCHU Oil own 9.31% and 3.65%, respectively, Norwegian Equinor has 7.27%, and Turkish TPAO owns 5.73%.
The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz field was signed in 1996. The equity participation of the parties to the contract is currently as follows: operator BP with 29.99%, LUKOIL at 19.99%, TPAO, with 19%, SOCAR, with 14.35% , NICO at 10% and Cenub Qaz Dehliz with 6.67%.
