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Azerbaijan Raises Export Potential Significantly
09 Jun 2009 11:50 AM
Excerpt from Caspian Investor by Ilya Kedrov 
| Oil exports from Azerbaijan for 2008 increased three-fold in comparison to 2007, to 23 million tons, reported Nuru Guliyev the deputy chief of marketing and export operations at the state oil and gas holding SOCAR. He said that 44 percent of all exports travel on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, with 29 percent on the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, 18 percent on the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and 9 percent by the Baku-Batumi rail route. |
“In the overall structure of oil exports, 750,000 to 800,000 barrels [102,000 to 109,000 tons] of Azeri Light brand crude extracted at the Azeri-Chyrag-Guneshli [ACG] deposits daily moves on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, along with 40,000-50,000 barrels of gas condensate from the Shah-Deniz deposit and 40,000 barrels of Tengiz oil. On the Baku-Supsa pipeline, daily throughput volume totals 100,000 barrels of Azeri Light,” Guliyev added. Exports of oil products are also increasing. In January-March, SOCAR exported onto world markets 563,681 tons of oil products, a 1.5 percent rise year-on-year. Primary SOCAR exports have been diesel fuel (390,959 tons), automobile gasoline (53,174 tons), aviation fuel (118,208 tons) and fuel oil (1,340 tons). March figures amounts to a total of 162,179 tons, including 107,622 tons of diesel, 19,564 tons of automobile gasoline, 34,236 tons of aviation fuel and 757 tons of fuel oil.
From 2015, Azerbaijan will be ready to carry out gas deliveries to the countries of the European Union, amounting to 15-20 billion cubic meters annually, Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev announced. “Opportunities to transport gas from Azerbaijan in 2015-2030 could amount to 30-35 billion cubic meters of gas a year, 60-70 billion cubic meters from Kazakhstan and 145-180 billion cubic meters from Turkmenistan. From these totals, exports to Europe during this period could reach 15-20 billion cubic meters a year from Azerbaijan, 20-30 billion from Kazakhstan and 10-15 billion from Turkmenistan,” Aliyev told the Third Caspian Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference in Baku.
Azerbaijan officials said on April 28 that they would move to increase their export potential to markets in Canada and the United States. Nuru Guliyev, SOCAR deputy manager for marketing and economics at the Azeri state oil company SOCAR, said his company is looking for expansion in the North American energy market, Azerbaijan Business Center reported. “Today the US market is supplied on average 73,000 barrels per day, but that figure could expand to 200,000 barrels per day, first of all because of reduction of domestic production in the US and non-stability of traditional suppliers,” he said.
Guliyev noted that, while the oil market in Canada is relatively new, growing demand there made further expansion possible. “The oil market in Canada is still young but is developing actively, and demand there is growing,” he said. Azerbaijan produced 44 million tons of oil in 2008. Guliyev said up to 40 percent of SOCAR‘s current exports were to the American and Asian markets. In 2006, these markets accounted for only 10 percent to 15 percent of all exports. “There is demand for Azerbaijani oil, but it’s also a question of price,” he said. “It’s one thing to supply oil at a price of $140 a barrel and another at a price of $40-$50.” Read Related Articles Caspian Investor provides unequaled news and analysis of energy sector developments in the countries of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region. Prepared by a seasoned staff of in-country journalists, only CI brings you the details you need to understand how regional developments will impact your business in this dynamic market. To Subscribe>
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