SOCAR plans to extract 7.2 bcm of gas this year

SOCAR’s own oil and gas production in 2020 was estimated at 7.6 million tonnes and 7.2 bcm, respectively, Yashar Latifov, SOCAR Vice President for Field Development, told Reuters.

Azerbaijan plans to increase natural gas production this year, but slightly lower oil production due to the level of existing reserves.

Latifov told Reuters the country planned to produce 38.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year, up from 35.6 bcm last year, and 36.5 million tonnes of oil, down from 37.5 million tonnes in 2019.

“Our task is to ensure stable oil production in the coming four to five years, and then a controlled decline, which will be managed by the planned expansion of exploration work at new and existing fields. New drilling activity at Bulla-Deniz, West Absheron, Pirallahi, Bank Darvin, and some onshore sites was expected to keep oil production stable,” he said.

Latifov said output at Shah Deniz was seen at 18.96 bcm of gas and 4 million tonnes of condensate in 2020, up from 16.8 bcm of gas and 3.7 million tonnes of condensate in 2019.

According to him, after drilling the first exploratory early gas production well at Absheron, SOCAR, together with France’s Total, is starting to perform a full field development study, which might result in the drilling of at least three more wells.

“The start of production at Absheron is expected in mid-2021, and its reserves could exceed an estimated 300 bcm, allowing output at a plateau level of 5 bcm per year,” Latifov said.

Latifov said SOCAR planned to increase gas production at Umid to 960 million cubic meters this year from 850 million cubic meters in 2019, and condensate to 143,000 tonnes from 140,000 tonnes.

The first exploration well is planned for drilling at the neighboring Babek field at the start of 2021, he said, while appraisal well drilling at the Karabakh field together with Norway’s Equinor was expected to be completed by the end of February.