Azerbaijan Output Dips by over 5% January to September

Azerbaijan’s gross gas production for January-September 2017 was 21.118bn m³ (including flaring and re-injection) – around 5.5% down year on year – according to a report by state-run producer Socar.

There was no mention of sales levels in the report but an informed source told NGW that sales volumes for the period were 13.509bn m³ marking a 3.4% fall year on year. In 2016 the country’s commercial gas production was 18.714bn m³ around 1.8% up on 2015.

During the 2017 nine-month period the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block produced 9.233bn m³ of gross gas, of which 2.369bn m³ were delivered to Socar (19.64% up year on year). The rest was reinjected into oil fields to maintain production, the source said.

He added that gas production from the first phase of Shah Deniz (SD1) was 7.426bn m³, some 8% down year on year. The fall was largely a result of shutting down the field for two weeks from August 14 to carry out works on the Alfa production platform. ACG and SD1 are both operated by BP. Azerbaijan purchased 2bn m³ gas from SD1, a 31% fall year on year.

Socar’s own production stood at 4.458bn m³ for the nine-month period, some 248.7mn m³ down on the equivalent 2016 period, according to the company.

Turkmenistan has also begun gas exports to Azerbaijan, through the swapping of volumes with Iran (since October 2016). Azerbaijan imported 1.296bn m³ in the nine-month period.

The country has completed installing topsides on Shah Deniz Stage 2 platform and is preparing for tests by March 2018. SD2 will become semi-operational in mid-2018 and start flowing gas to Turkey.

When it becomes fully operational in late 2020, SD2 will supply 16bn m³/yr gas to Turkey (6bn m³/yr) and the EU via the Southern Gas Corridor.

Gross gas production (mn m³)

Source: Socar

Ilham Shaban, Dalga Khatinoglu