Baku hosting 4th SOCAR Forum

The 4th SOCAR International Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum: Trading, Logistics, Refining, Petrochemicals opened in Baku today.

Convened annually since 2016, this year’s Forum brings together nearly 300 participants from over 20 countries and top managers from the leading national and overseas companies and fuel-energy, petrochemical and logistics facilities in the Caspian region and Central Asia as well as relevant forefront experts, analysts, representatives from the diplomatic corps, and a wide range of other specialists. 

The forum offers participants the opportunity to gain insights into the prospects of oil & gas industry development in Azerbaijan, oil & gas markets in the Caspian region and Central Asia, hydrocarbon logistics and transit potential, major export routes, crude and products trade flows, modernization of the refineries and petrochemical plants, innovative technologies in the oil & gas industry, and explore various other observations and expert opinion.

Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said that 104.2 billion cubic meters of gas and 25.1 million tons of condensate were produced at the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan. He added that that 69.7 billion cubic meters of gas produced at this field were exported during this period.

According to the minister, in January-March 2019, gas production in Azerbaijan increased by 25.1% compared to the same period last year reaching 9.1 billion cubic meters of gas. Gas exports for the same period increased by 26.6% amounting to 3.2 billion cubic meters of gas, Shahbazov said, adding that 4.3 billion cubic meters of gas and 1 million tons of condensate accounted for the share of production at the Shah Deniz field.

According to Azerbaijan's Minister of Energy, the oil prices are at a satisfactory level now, while the level of compliance with the December OPEC deal + is increasing monthly. He noted that the adoption of a new decision to reduce oil production in June greatly depends on a number of geopolitical factors and, to a certain extent, on the decrease in commercial oil reserves.

"From the very beginning of the conclusion of the deal within OPEC+, Azerbaijan was its active participant," Shahbazov recalled, adding that the country's revenues from profitable oil and gas reached $9.8 billion in 2018.

First Vice-President of SOCAR Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh said that until today, Azerbaijan has supplied 506 million tons of oil to foreign markets. He noted that out of this volume, 383 million tons were delivered via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC). 

Yusifzadeh also said that about 1.6 billion cubic meters of gas were exported through the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) so far.

BP Azerbaijan Vice President Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli said that until 2049, there are plans to produce another three billion barrels of oil at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of fields in the Caspian Sea.

"Until today, $36 billion have been invested in the development of the ACG block, and 3.5 billion barrels of oil have been produced," Trend cited him as saying.

In addition, 44 billion cubic meters of associated gas were collected and transferred to the Azerbaijani state, Aslanbayli said. BP Azerbaijan Vice President also said that a powerful infrastructure has been created in the Caspian Sea region. "It includes the Sangachal terminal, which is one of the biggest oil and gas terminals in the world," Aslanbayli noted.

Azerbaijan's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev noted that after Azerbaijan regained the state independence, the government began to pay special attention to managing emissions and protecting the environment. He added that industrial production, which has been conducted in Azerbaijan for 170 years, has affected the environment and climate of Azerbaijan. 

"The issue of emissions management is kept in the focus of attention by the state. Ratification of the Convention on the Status of the Caspian Sea will give an even greater impetus to this," Babayev stressed.

The forum organised with support from SOCAR by Baku Higher Oil School in partnership with British company Confidence Capital Ltd. will be held until April 25. Forum participants are expected to visit SOCAR Carbomide, SOCAR Methanol, SOCAR Polymer, and Sangachal Oil Terminal.