BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 18. State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has been invited to participate in the Bulgarian government's international tender this week for oil and natural gas prospecting and exploration in the Block 1-26 Khan Tervel area on the Black Sea, Trend reports.
Bulgaria has been receiving Azeri gas through Greece via the IGB
pipeline since 2022. It was reported this week that from January
through April 2024, the total guaranteed forward gas flow through
the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB) amounted to 3,585,199,330
kWh, while the total interrupted reverse flow amounted to
134,079,926 kWh (ICGB AD, the pipeline operator, told Trend).
ICGB stated that from October 2022 until the end of April 2024, the
total guaranteed direct gas flow through the Greece-Bulgaria (IGB)
interconnector amounted to 24,001,878,336 kWh.
Azerbaijan produced 16.666 bcm of natural gas in January-April 2024, which is 3.2 percent more than the figure for the same period of 2023, Trend reports referring to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.
Of this volume, 12.743 bcm was marketable gas for all categories of consumers (inside and outside the country), which is 4.3 percent more than from January through April 2023.
Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov stated this week that Azerbaijan increased gas exports by 2.7 percent in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. According to his data, from January through April 2024, 4.2 bcm of gas was exported to Europe, 3.2 bcm to Türkiye (including 1.8 bcm via TANAP), and 1.1 bcm to Georgia.
The main gas for export is gas from the giant Shah Deniz Caspian field offshore Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy reported that more than 218.3 bcm of gas was produced from this field from the moment of commissioning (December 2006) until May 1, 2024, of which 155.2 bcm of gas was exported.
The State Customs Committee (SCC) of Azerbaijan reported on May 16 that Azerbaijan exported 7.707 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth almost $2.759 billion from January through April 2024. At the same time, the volume of gas exports increased by 18.3 percent to the figure of the same period of 2023 (there was a figure of 6.514 bcm), but the revenue from gas exports almost halved (from January through April 2023 was $5.419 billion), which is due to the drop in gas prices in the EU in 2024.
Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and head of the
Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry Alparslan Bayraktar
signed a Turkish-Azerbaijani cooperation agreement on natural gas
in Istanbul on May 14.
The mid-term agreement reflects the intention to continue gas
supplies from Phase 1 of Shah Deniz field development, as the
agreement on such supplies expired this year, A source exclusively
told Trend. Also, the Turkish side provides Azerbaijan with an
opportunity to transport an additional 2.5 million cubic meters of
gas per day to the EU territory (to Bulgaria to the Balkan Gas Hub)
through the gas distribution hub “Malkochlar” on the
Turkish-Bulgarian border (spot gas supplies in the presence of such
additional volumes). The third point is that Azerbaijan undertakes
to ensure the transit of Turkmen gas to Türkiye through its
territory (from the border with Iran).
Bayraktar also suggested that natural gas will be supplied to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan via Türkiye (Ighdir-Nakhchivan pipeline) this winter, he said during the signing ceremony of the Türkiye-Azerbaijan Natural Gas Cooperation Agreement on May 14.
Besides that, Azerbaijani gas flows through Türkiye via the TANAP pipeline to Europe via a segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - TAP. Head of External Relations of the TAP consortium Vugar Veysalov, speaking at the Belgrade Energy Forum earlier this week, noted that interest in the short-term capacity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has increased significantly.
Veysalov also noted that TAP aims to ensure that the energy transition to a low-carbon future occurs sustainably, and its potential full expansion could help meet EU decarbonization goals by facilitating the transport of volumes of hydrogen and biomethane in the future. Relevant studies are underway on hydrogen and biomethane for TAP.
The State Statistics Committee reported on May 16 that Azerbaijan produced a total of 9.64 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons (oil and gas condensate) in January-April 2024, which is 5.7 percent less than the figure for the same period in 2023.
Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov informed on his page on social network X that Azerbaijan exported 7.9 million tons of oil and condensate from January through April 2024 compared to 8.5 million tons in the same period of 2023.
According to the data of the State Customs Committee (SCC) based on customs declarations, Azerbaijan's oil exports (nomenclature code 2709) from January through April 2024 decreased by almost 25 percent against January through April 2023 - to 6.929 million tons (the discrepancy with the Ministry of Energy is due to the different method of accounting, as the SCC records the fact of sale and payment, while the Ministry of Energy - physical delivery). Azerbaijan's revenue from the sale of these volumes of oil amounted to $4.365 billion against $5.715 billion for January through April 2023.
The main oil for export is oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) Caspian block offshore Azerbaijan. During the entire production period (since autumn 1997), 590.2 million tons of oil and about 220.7 bcm of gas (considered as associated gas) have been extracted from this block. Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli produced 5.5 million tons of oil in the first four months of 2024.
Azerbaijan's State Statistics Committee (SSC) reported on May 16 that 9.607 million tons of Caspian oil were transported through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (BTC, the main pipeline for Caspian oil exports) from January through April 2024 against 9.802 million tons in the same period of 2023. Of this volume, 7.785 million tons was oil from Azerbaijan (against 8.316 million tons from January through April 2023), and the rest was oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) this week shared a forecast that Azerbaijan's crude oil production in 2024 could be 0.62 million bpd. The same Agency reported that Azerbaijan's crude oil production in April 2024 averaged 0.48 million bpd.
OPEC, in turn, calculated that Azerbaijan produced 0.484 million barrels of crude oil per day in April.
SOCAR head Rovshan Najaf and Uzbekneftegaz chairman of board Bakhodir Sidigov held negotiations in Tashkent on May 14, SOCAR president Rovshan Najaf wrote on X.
The two sides discussed the successful development of the countries' bilateral relations, as well as current and prospective opportunities for cooperation in human capital, renewable energy, decarbonization, innovation, and digitalization.
The Ministry of Energy this week reported that Azerbaijan's
electricity production from January through April 2024 decreased by
6.1 percent to the same period in 2023.
Besides, electricity imports totaled 62.2 million kWh in
January-April 2024 compared to 41.1 million kWh in the same period
of 2023, according to the Ministry of Energy. Exports totaled 407.0
million kWh compared to 1.244 billion kWh from January through
April 2023.
The State Statistics Committee, in turn, reported that Azerbaijan produced oil products worth 1.7 billion manat ($990 million) from January through April 2024, which is 5.3 percent more than in the same period of 2023. The growth was achieved in the main types of petroleum products - motor gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel.
This week it also became known that Harry Kamian, Senior Advisor for Multilateral Energy Diplomacy in the US Department of State's Bureau of Energy Resources, will visit Azerbaijan in June to participate in Baku Energy Week. This event will be held on June 4-6.
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