Azerbaijan's oil production exceeds 2 billion tonnes

A festive ceremony on production of 2 billion tonnes of oil was held in Baku.

Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev delivered a speech in the ceremony.

After which the ceremony was addressed by SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, the head of platrofm #10 of 28 May Oil and Gas Extraction Department, Gadim Aliyev, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey (AGT), Gary Jones, first-year student of Baku Higher Oil Academy Mahira Asadova and SOCAR Vice President Khoshbakht Yusifzade.

Upon the order of President Ilham Aliyev, SOCAR Vice President Khoshbakht Yusifzae was awarded with the first degree Labor order for his merits in oil industry.

At the end, a video on history on Azerbaijan’s oil history was displayed. 

Chief editor of the Trend information agency, Seymour Aliyev, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the intensification of Azerbaijan's oil production coincided with the period of restoration of the country's independence and linked with the 'contract of the century', which was signed in 1994, as well as with the country's energy policy laid by the national leader Heydar Aliyev.

"The political and economic stability of the country made it possible to attract multibillion investments to the country. The first oil from the Chirag was produced in 1997. Later, the Azeri and Guneshli fields were fully developed, seven platforms were built, as well as the modern oil terminal Sangachal, the Baku-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipelines," he said.

"This year, with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, a new agreement was signed to extend the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields." The new agreement was signed by AzACG, the BP Exploration Limited, Chevron Khazar Ltd., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, INPEX Southwest Caspian Sea Ltd., ITOCHU Oil Exploration Inc, ONGC Videsh Limited, Statoil Absheron and TPAO. The agreement will be valid until December 31, 2049. SOCAR's share in the ACG project has increased from 11.65% to 25%, international partner companies will pay $3.6 billion to the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan. The volume of potential investments in ACG in next 32 years is estimated at more than $40 billion. At present, the recoverable oil reserves of the block are more than 500 million tons," Seymur Aliyev said.

Political scientist Rovshan Ibragimov, in turn, stressed that Azerbaijan managed to extract more than a third of all Azerbaijani oil thanks to a powerful technological leap. "The maximum production of the AzSSR was during the Great Patriotic War, for example, about 20 million tons were produced in 1941, and about 12 million tons - before the collapse of the Union. After gaining independence, the peak was reached in 2011 thanks to new technologies and access to international markets, when 50 million tons were produced. At present, the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field produces about 30 million tons alone, in general,  Azerbaijan's production will amount to 37-38 million tons this year. Thus, current production volumes are many times higher than in the USSR, despite the fact that oil production has started to decline," he pointed out.

"It should be recalled that Azerbaijan is the cradle of the world oil industry. In the 19th century, most of the world's oil production was in Azerbaijan, in 1900 our share was 50%. As for Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, these fields were known in the Soviet era, but the USSR did not have the necessary technologies for oil production in such difficult conditions. The implementation of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project was possible only after the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence," Rovshan Ibrahimov noted.