Oil, gas, electricity exports see growth
By Leman Mammadova
The State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan has disclosed statistics on oil, gas and electricity exports.
Azerbaijan exported 23.3 million tons of oil worth $11.3 billion in January to September 2019, reports the Committee.
In January-September 2018, the oil export from the country amounted to 22 million tons at $11.6 billion. Thus, oil exports increased in quantitative terms by 6 percent, in value terms - decreased by 2.8 percent in 2019.
Following the results of the first nine months of 2019, gas export from Azerbaijan amounted to 9.1 billion cubic meters worth $1.8 billion.
The country exported 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas costing $1.28 billion in the same period of 2018. Thus, this year, gas export increased in quantitative terms by 73 percent, in value terms - by 76.1 percent.
In January-September 2019, Azerbaijan exported 708,054 tons of oil products for $345.8 million. Last year, 837,919 tons of oil products were exported from the country, the value of which was $ 425.1 million.
As for electricity, Azerbaijan exported 1.5 billion kWh of electricity at $63 million in the first nine months of 2019. Last year, 1.3 billion kWh of electricity for $59.6 million was exported from the country. Thus, in January-September 2019, electricity export from Azerbaijan in quantitative terms increased by 14.9 percent, in value - by 5.6 percent.
Azerbaijan exports electricity to Georgia, Turkey, Russia and Iran. Azerenergy is the main exporter of electric energy in the country. Azerbaijan, which has been exporting electricity to neighboring countries for a long time, has already begun exporting energy to European countries, including Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.
The total oil exports from Azerbaijan amounted to 29.5 million tons worth $15.7 billion, gas exports – 7.9 billion cubic meters worth $1.5 billion, and electricity exports - 1.4 billion for $65.6 million in 2018.
Azerbaijan mainly carries out oil exports through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, and gas exports via the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), namely the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum.
Currently, an average of 110,000 tons of oil and 94 million cubic meters of gas are extracted per day in Azerbaijan from offshore and onshore fields, including the Shah Deniz, Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Umid fields, which are jointly operated with foreign companies.
ACG is the largest oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea, covering more than 432 square kilometers. A contract for the development of ACG block of oil and gas fields was signed in 1994 for 30 years. The new agreement signed in 2017 provides for the development of the field until 2050.
Proven oil reserves of ACG block of oil and gas fields are estimated at 1.2 billion tons, while gas reserves make 350 billion cubic meters.
---
Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz