BakuD

Tengizchevroil eyes BTC flow

2008-10-10T07:39:00.001-07:00

10 October 2008 - Upstream OnLine - The Chevron-led Tengizchevroil consortium plans to start oil shipments via the BP-run Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in the second half of this month, BP Azerbaijan said today. "We expect to start pumping some volumes of Tengizchevroil's crude via the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline in the second half of October," company spokesman Tamam Bayatly told Reuters. She did not say how much oil was expected to be delivered. Tengizchevroil, struggling to expand its key pipeline export route, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), had hoped to start alternative exports via Baku in the middle of last year. A source at Azeri state oil company Socar told Reuters last month Tengizchevroil could start delivering 20,000 to 60,000 barrels per day via Azerbaijan. The crude was supposed to be shipped by both BTC and railways. The BTC pipeline, which runs from large Azeri fields on the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, can pump more than 1 million barrels per day, but currently works under its design capacity.

BP brings Azeri back on line

2008-10-10T07:36:00.001-07:00

10 October 2008 - Upstream OnLine - A BP-led group resumed oil production at one of its two Azeri offshore platforms shut after a gas leak in September, BP Azerbaijan said today. "Oil production at Western Azeri was resumed late Thursday," a company spokeswoman Tamam Bayatly told Reuters. A source in the consortium told Reuters earlier this month that resumption of oil production at Western Azeri would double production at the Azeri-Chirag-Gyuneshli (ACG) offshore group of fields to around 600,000 barrels per day, down from the usual 900,000 bpd. BP in September suspended oil production at two ACG platforms, Western and Central Azeri, of the giant Caspian Sea deposit due to a gas leak. ACG is the main source of oil for the BP-operated Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from the fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

2008-10-10T07:35:00.003-07:00

somol

2008-10-10T07:35:00.001-07:00

opiut

2008-10-10T07:34:00.009-07:00

gotturd

2008-10-10T07:34:00.007-07:00

semurg

2008-10-10T07:34:00.005-07:00

jawgal

2008-10-10T07:34:00.003-07:00

lotos

2008-10-10T07:34:00.001-07:00

corner

2008-10-10T07:33:00.005-07:00

timber

2008-10-10T07:33:00.003-07:00

chronos

2008-10-10T07:33:00.001-07:00

lithmus

Gas leak forces shut ins at ACG fields

2008-09-19T08:27:00.001-07:00

17 September, 2008 - Upstream OnLine - BP has shut in oil output at the Western Azeri field - part of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) complex in the Caspian Sea - after shutting in the Central Azeri field earlier today because of a gas leak at the platform. "We halted production at the Western Azeri as a preventive safety measure. There is no need to halt production at other fields," a company spokeswoman told Reuters. Staff were evacuated from the Central Azeri platform after the leak was discovered. The spokeswoman said that works would continue as normal at other fields in the deposit and exports would not be affected. "There are sufficient volumes of oil in onshore storage at Sangachaly (near Baku) as well as in Ceyhan. Loading of Azeri Light crude in Ceyhan is continuing according to schedule," she added. She could not say when the company planned to resume production. The ACG group produces about 900,000 barrels per day in total, with output from the Central and Western Azeri fields amounting to about 470,000 bpd of that. ACG is the main source of oil for the BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from the fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast. Flows along the pipeline were halted for 20 days last month after a fire damaged a section in eastern Turkey. The ACG fields are being developed by the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC). The deep-water Guneshli fields were brought on stream earlier this year. At plateau production, the Guneshli complex will produce 320,000 bpd, bringing total ACG oil production, including Chirag, East Azeri, West Azeri and Central Azeri, to over 1 million barrels per day. Other AIOC partners include ExxonMobil, Chevron and Devon Energy. Operator BP has a 34% stake in the fields.

Russia Seeks Fellowship

2008-09-17T07:07:00.001-07:00

// Moscow tries to restore its peacekeeping reputation in the region
Sep. 16, 2008 - Kommersant by Nikolay Filchenko - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will hold talks today with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Meindorf residence outside Moscow. Moscow was the initiator of this summit meeting. Kommersant has learned that Russia will propose a package of peace initiatives for a settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict to Aliyev and try at the same time to guarantee that Baku will steer clear of Western political and energy games. Divide and Conquer The meeting between the presidents had been discussed since the beginning of the month. On September 3, they spoke by telephone, also at Russia’s initiative. Natalia Timakova, the Russian president’s press secretary, told Kommersant then that the two leaders had reached an agreement in principle on high-level negotiations. Last week, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov visited Moscow and Medvedev and Aliyev spoke again on Sunday to agree on the agenda for today’s meeting. A Kremlin source called the close contact between the countries logical, considering Azerbaijan’s role in the region. Sources in the presidential administration say that the time for negotiations between Medvedev and Aliyev had come even earlier. Medvedev has met with Armenian President Serge Sargsyan twice this month, on September 2 at presidential residence in Sochi and three days later at the Moscow summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which Azerbaijan is not a member of. Relations between Baku and Erevan will receive particular attention in today’s Russian-Azerbaijani talks, and specifically within the context of a settlement in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. In the final declaration of the CSTO summit, it is noted that the allies are “concerned with the growing military potential and escalation of tensions in the Caucasus region.” Many observers, including those in Baku, think that phrase should be interpreted as a warning to Azerbaijan, where the need to retake “territories occupied by Armenia” is voiced from time to time. Source in the Russian Foreign Ministry close to today’s negotiations say openly that Moscow would like a firm guarantee from Baku that it will not consider military means to solve the Karabakh problem either before or after the October presidential elections there. Moscow, which, along with France and the United States, took part in searching for a settlement to the Karabakh conflict as part of the OSCE Minsk group, plans to propose its own plan to Azerbaijan and Armenia. The first point of that plan is the organization of a meeting between Aliyev and Sargsyan in Russia with the participation of Medvedev. Kommersant has learned from sources near the Armenian president that Sargsyan has already approved that idea. Today Medvedev has to obtain Aliyev’s consent. To interest the Azerbaijani president in a meeting with the other two presidents, Moscow will propose a discussion of a sensitive question for Baku, that is, jurisdiction over the Lacha corridor, which connects Nagorny Karabakh with Armenia. Specifically, they are to conciliate a operation along the route to allow the safe movement of people and cargo along it without transferring it to the jurisdiction of Erevan or Stepanakert. A Weak Link – Besides peacekeeping initiatives, Medvedev has other important topics that demand urgent discussion with Aliyev. After Russia’s military operations against Georgia, Azerbaijan has been the subject of increased attention from the West. High-ranking guests from Washington are becoming common in Baku, and Aliyev even received U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney this month. Baku was the energy capital of the region last week when it hosted the international business forum “The Gas and Oil Potential of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan: Energy, Economy, Ecology. Partnership Strategy.” First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Yagub Eyubov assured attendees there that his country is prepared to offer its infrastructure for deliveries of Central Asian hydrocarbons to the West. Bypassing Russia, of course. Immediately after Aliyev’s Moscow talks, U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, who is cochairman of the OSCE Minsk group, will visit the Azerbaijani capital. The West’s intensive attention to Azerbaijan does not make Russia happy, and even more so since Azerbaijan is allied with Georgia, which has severed diplomatic relations with Russia, through the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) organization. Therefore, Russia is extremely interested in seeing to it that Azerbaijan follow through on any impulses to strengthen military ties with the West. The U.S. already offered last year to create a training camp on the Caspian like the ones in Georgia. A Kommersant source who manages Azerbaijani affairs at the Russian Foreign Ministry said that one of the key topics in today’s talks between the two presidents will be a written ban on the presence in the Caspian region of outside armed forces. Ideally, Moscow would like principles for activities in the Caspian to be outlined in a convention. That convention is already being drafted. Russia is prepared to expand its military partnership with Azerbaijan as compensation and to fulfill its obligations to deliver armored military equipment, parts for it and firearms. Energy partnership is a traditional topic of talks between the Russian and Azerbaijani presidents. A source in the Kremlin mentioned with satisfaction that, after operational lapses in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline during the conflict in Georgia, Azerbaijan has applied to increase the transport of its oil through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline. An unsettled question is the volume of Gazprom’s maximum gas purchases during the development of the second line at the Shah Deniz gas field. That is sure to be a difficult conversation, considering that Baku quite willingly responded to the West’s proposal that it participate in the Nabucco project, the implementation of which has taken on new impetus since the Russian-Georgian war.

Azerbaijan is ready to direct gas output to EU

2008-09-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

15.09.2008 - [Neftegaz.RU] - Christos Folias, Greek Minister of Development, said that Athens and Baku cooperation can become a first step to Azerbaijan and EU partnership. In the near future a quadripartite contract about Caspian gas transportation between Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Italy will be signed. Azerbaijan possesses a 1,2 bln. cubic metre gas deposit in Shakhdeniz. Gas will be transported to Greece through Turkey by South Caucasian pipe-line (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and then by Karajabei-Komotini pipeline (it connects Turkish and Greek gas transportation systems). By 2011, when the Poseidon gas pipeline starts to function, azebaijanian gaz will be transported to Italy. As for now the main gas exporter to Greece and Italy is Gazprom (its market share is 80 and 25 per cent respectively). However, Azerbaijan is confident that it will become a worthy rival to the Russians. But the experts say that Rome got used to Russian gas and probably won’t change its supplier, besides Azerbaijan is not ready yet for big gas output, that’s why it won’t be a great competitor for Gazprom. Though the Russian company loses its status of monopoly.

2008-09-15T11:11:00.007-07:00

optima

2008-09-15T11:11:00.005-07:00

nogar

2008-09-15T11:11:00.003-07:00

mezzo

Nabucco Gets A Boost In Baku

2008-09-15T11:11:00.001-07:00

September 10, 2008 RFE RL by Bruce Pannier - Western hopes for Caspian gas that doesn't arrive via Russia are alive and well. The future of the Nabucco natural-gas pipeline project have appeared to be in serious jeopardy since war broke out between Russia and Georgia. Some export routes leading to the planned pipeline would run through Georgia, where Russian forces remain entrenched in unilaterally declared buffer zones nearly a month after an EU-brokered cease-fire. Of course, Nabucco's viability also hinges to some extent on gas supplies from Caspian countries Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, all of whom have been courted by Russia's Gazprom, which recently offered to purchase all of the three countries' gas. But at a "strategic-cooperation conference" in Baku this week, there was broad support for participation in the Nabucco project. "Azerbaijan is not giving up on the Nabucco project," Azerbaijani Industry and Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev vowed. "This is a project that has a future." Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler also seized on the opportunity to pledge his country's support for Nabucco. "Nabucco will work. We will implement it," he said. "The Nabucco project will strengthen not only Turkey's energy security, but Europe's too. No one should doubt it." The Nabucco plan calls for a 3,300-kilometer pipeline that will transport 31 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe every year once it is fully operational. Crucially for Western backers like the European Union and the United States, Nabucco's route avoids both Russian and Iranian territory entirely. Importance Of Diversity - "The cooperation between these two countries [Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan] and others such as Kazakhstan to create a diversity of export possibilities helps ensure each country's independence and economic strength," said U.S. special representative to the EU Boyden Gray, who was at the Baku conference. "In addition, there is strength in numbers and in cooperation. These countries in this region are stronger and more influential acting in concert than individually," he added. "This is especially the case given the closed nature of the Caspian. If they are united on energy issues, these countries can better promote diversification and competition for their exports and, also, over the long haul promote the diversification of their economies through expanded regional and world trade." Gray noted that the United States will not benefit directly from Nabucco but that Washington hoped "that the [Caspian] region and Europe both benefit and that we, as a trading nation, will also indirectly benefit and we very much want for [Europe] to have a strong independent existence to promote your own economies to their fullest potential." Despite having no "direct" interest in the Nabucco project, the United States has been engaged in substantial lobbying for the project in the Caspian region. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was in Azerbaijan last week to promote diversification of energy export routes. The Nabucco pipeline itself would start from the Georgian-Turkish and/or Turkish-Iranian borders and run to Austria. Nabucco project head Reinhard Mitschek told RFE/RL earlier this year that Nabucco does not contract for gas supplies, it is only an energy import route for Europe. It is up to shareholders in the project and other companies to arrange the purchase of gas and feed it into the Nabucco pipeline. But without gas from Caspian countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan it could be difficult to fill the pipeline, so the participation of those countries in Nabucco is vital. Enough Gas? - The progress in Baku does not yet mean that Nabucco's problems are all settled. Charles Esser, an energy analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, points out that Azerbaijan's participation alone does not remove all the obstacles to Nabucco. "The Azeri minister was tentative in his support because he said certainly Nabucco is still on track, he said, though, that 'we in Azerbaijan don't have enough gas to, by ourselves, supply [Nabucco] so it will require other sources.' [Without other sources] he was doubtful that [Nabucco] would happen," Esser says. Turkmen officials at the Baku conference have not yet said what level of participation, if any, Turkmenistan would have in Nabucco. Furthermore, Turkmenistan has committed itself to pumping more gas to Russia and China in recent weeks. And Esser notes that the Russia-Georgia conflict is still fresh in the minds of many and will play a role in how Nabucco fares in the coming weeks. "I think there's a renewed political push for Nabucco; however, at the same time I think commercial risk has increased," Esser says. "There is no way around it and because of that risk investors will want guarantees. I think we'll have to see whether the increased political will for Nabucco translates into guarantees and perhaps subsidies." Nabucco is planning to hold a meeting of shareholders, potential investors, and potential suppliers in Budapest next month to discuss the pipeline project's future.

Cheney Thwarted in Quest for Support Over Nabucco

2008-09-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

09-09-2008 - The St.Petersburg Times - Bloomberg - MOSCOW — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has failed to win Azerbaijan’s support for the construction of a new gas pipeline from the Caspian that would bypass Russia. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev indicated to Cheney during talks in Baku on Wednesday that he did not want to anger Russia in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Georgia, Kommersant reported, citing an official in Aliyev’s administration. Cheney was so disappointed that he did not attend an official dinner in his honor, the report said. Azerbaijan has also increased flows of oil through a pipeline to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the newspaper reported, citing a Russian energy official. Azerbaijan is the starting point for the flow of Caspian oil and gas westward to Europe, bypassing Russia. The planned Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union, will bring gas from the Caspian region via Turkey to Austria and Western Europe by 2013. BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline can carry as much as 1 million barrels of Azeri crude a day through Georgia to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Another BP-led pipeline, the Baku-Supsa, moves crude from Azerbaijan to Georgia’s Black Sea coast. Kazakhstan, the holder of 3.2 percent of the world’s oil, is currently in talks with Azerbaijan and Georgia about the possible construction of a pipeline to send its oil across the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea port of Batumi, Timur Kulibayev, head of Kazenergy Association, said Friday. The new pipeline from Baku to Batumi, an oil terminal in which KazMunaiGaz has bought a stake, may carry 10 million tons of crude per year, said Kulibayev, who the Astana-based private association, which includes Chevron and BG Group as members. If Kazakhstan does not get access to Baku-Supsa, a new pipeline can be built “quite fast,” he said.

Energy - Brussels told to pursue Azerbaijan pipe dream

2008-09-10T14:58:00.001-07:00

// Commissioner pushes for route through Georgia
// Line would reduce energy dependency on Russia
09-05-2008 - The Guardian by David Gow - The EU must redouble its efforts to build the $12bn Nabucco gas pipeline and reduce its dependence on imports from Russia in the wake of the Georgian crisis, its energy commissioner said yesterday. The conflict in the Caucasus has led many experts to dismiss Nabucco, the planned 3,300km pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. But Andris Piebalgs said the aim of diversifying energy sources and routes was even more important now. "We need more political engagement to remove all the political obstacles to Nabucco to bring gas from the Caspian basin to the EU," he said in the face of evidence that the ambitious project to bypass Russia is foundering. Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, has already offered to buy Azeri gas at world prices and has put its weight behind two alternative pipelines, Nord Stream and South Stream, to Europe. Piebalgs won backing from Nabuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency, who said alternative import routes would enhance the EU's energy security and reduce its dependence on Russia. Russia provides 42% of the EU's overall gas imports and 30% of its oil but accounts for up to 80% of energy imports in some countries. Moscow and Gazprom have succeeded in dividing the EU by signing bilateral supply deals, notably with Germany, Italy and Austria, and by persuading member states to take part in its own sponsored transnational pipelines even when they are already involved with Nabucco. But Tanaka, presenting the IEA's first review of EU energy policies, said Russia's dependence on Europe was much higher, with the EU taking 70% of its oil and gas exports. "It's more and more important to have a single European energy market and a single EU voice," he said. "In the long run countries conducting relations on a bilateral basis will lose out." The 220-page IEA report adds: "Speaking with one voice and acting in a consistent and unified manner will be crucial to moving towards closer relationships between the EU and the external suppliers on which it will increasingly depend in the future." The ultimate aim of the six partners in the Nabucco project and the EC is to import gas from the Middle East, including Iraq, via the pipeline. The IEA also urges the EU to step up its efforts to promote renewable sources of energy if it is to reach its 20% target of consumption by 2020 and combat climate change. Tanaka said that an extra $45tn (£25tn) of investment in renewables and other green technologies would be required globally by 2050 if the world were to cut carbon emissions by a half - the EU's own long-term goal. This would be on top of the $22tn required globally to reach interim targets.

Russia gains the upper hand on Central Asian gas

2008-09-10T14:47:00.001-07:00

4 Septermber 2008 - Russia Today - During his trip to the Caucasus, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney received a cool reception in Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliev indicated Baku would not support redirecting oil and gas flows to bypass Russia. Russia is making headway in securing Central Asian gas. It offered higher prices for Uzbek gas on Tuesday and reached agreement to build a new pipeline transporting gas from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The moves could threaten Western-backed projects in the region. Burdened by its growing dependence on Russia's energy supplies, the European Union was counting on Nabucco. That's a planned pipeline that would bring Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Kazakh gas to Europe. But the plan looks shaky, after Russia agreed not only to pay European prices for Uzbek gas but also to build a new pipeline that would transport up to 30 billion cubic metres annually from Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Victor Mishnyakov, Senior Analyst, at Uralsib believes that with Russia now paying European prices for gas, there is little motivation for central Asian producers to look at other conduits to European markets. “When Russia is willing to pay a proper price for the Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan gas, as well as Azerbaijani gas, obviously all of these three countries would be equally willing to sell oil to Russia, to be pumped over to the western or eastern European countries via Russian territories, rather than use other territories to supply the gas to the same very markets.” Russia's Gazprom has a rival project that targets the same markets as Nabucco. South Stream would run from Russia's Black Sea coast to Bulgaria, avoiding Georgia as a transit route. Lev Snykov, Analyst at VTB Capital, says that's a major advantage. “The gas which this pipeline should be filled with, is running through the Baku –Tbilisi –Erzurum pipeline, therefore indirectly Nabucco is exposed to Georgian risk. Consequently, with the current situation, Europe would be thinking whether it makes sense to stick to Gazprom’s South Stream project, or still go ahead with Nabucco and running the Georgian risk.” There are also doubts about Europe's political will to pursue the Nabucco project - with some EU members keen to avoid compromising current supply contracts with Russia. But Snykov says its still possible the two pipelines can profitably co-exist. “If Europe does need really more gas and if Central Asia can supply more gas then I think Gazprom can go ahead with the South Stream project and at the same time the Nabucco consortium, which is dominated by Germany Austria and Hungary can go ahead with the Nabucco project and they can exist together.” While the future of the Nabucco pipeline is still uncertain, one thing is clear: Russia has already struck supply agreements with major producing countries in the region. And that could mean western companies - and politicians - looking for deals in Central Asia are late to the game.

Gaz de France bags Yalama stake

2008-09-10T12:12:00.001-07:00

03 September, 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Russian oil company Lukoil has sold Gaz de France a 15% stake in the Yalama exploration project in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea. The deal has been approved by the project's other shareholder, Azeri national oil company Socar, Lukoil said in a statement. The contract area covers 3037 square kilometres on the D-222 block where a production sharing contract was signed by Lukoil and Socar in July 1997. The exploration period on the licence will expire at the end of 2011. The duration of the development and production period will be 25 years with a possibility to extend that by five years. The minimal exploration programme for D-222 includes 2D and 3D seismic and the drilling of two exploration wells. A seismic survey was completed in 2004 and the first well was drilled using the ‘Heydar Aliyev’ drilling rig in 2005. The well, which was drilled to a depth of 4500 meters showed some signs of gas but no commercial hydrocarbon reserves were discovered. Drilling of the second exploration well is scheduled for November this year.

LUKoil, Gaz de France sign deal on 15% stake in Caspian project

2008-09-10T12:11:00.003-07:00

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - LUKoil and Gaz de France have signed a deal on the transfer of a 15% stake in an offshore prospecting project in Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea, the Russian oil company said on Wednesday. The deal, which is still to be approved by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), will see LUKoil hold 65%, SOCAR 20% and Gaz de France 15%. The exploration project on the D-222 block, part of a production sharing agreement, was signed in Moscow, July 1997, when Geidar Aliev, then Azeri President, was on an official visit to Russia. The Milli Majlis, Azerbaijan's parliament, ratified the contract in December the same year. The D-222 is part of the Yalama, the northeast Caspian's largest potential oil and gas field, 30 kilometers offshore. Its Azeri and Russian sectors are approximately the same size. Its petroleum reserves are estimated at 800 million barrels with gas reserves at 50 billion cubic meters.

2008-09-10T12:11:00.001-07:00

boutin

2008-09-10T12:10:00.011-07:00

merrit

2008-09-10T12:10:00.009-07:00

argon

2008-09-10T12:10:00.007-07:00

cobos

2008-09-10T12:10:00.005-07:00

fulton

2008-09-10T12:10:00.003-07:00

tremor

Azerbaijan starts transporting oil via Iran

2008-09-10T12:10:00.001-07:00

27 August 2008 - Russ Energy - Iran has become a new transit route for exportation of energy sources from Azerbaijan. Iran News reports with reference to Press-TV that Azerbaijan has sent the first oil shipment for transit supplies to Iran. It should be reminded that oil supplies via Azerbaijan to western markets by BTC pipeline were suspended due to the pipeline explosion in Turkey and military actions in Georgia. For this reason Azerbaijan has appealed to Iran for transit of its energy sources.

BTC pipeline back in service

2008-09-10T12:09:00.013-07:00

26 August 2008 - AFP - A major fire-damaged oil pipeline carrying crude from Azerbaijan to Turkey was up and running again Monday after repairs, industry sources told AFP.
BP said exports of Azeri oil to Turkey via Georgia has been brought to full operation after repairs to the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline damaged by a fire a few weeks ago. BP-Azerbaijan spokeswoman Tamam Bayatly told APA-ECONOMICS that oil is being pumped through the pipeline at the regular capacity at present. "We tested the repaired pipeline. This was some limited and intermittent flow of oil through the pipeline before a move to full operation. At the same time, oil output in the country is being increased gradually to the regular level," she added. Due to the disruption, the BP-led Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oilfields in the Caspian Sea had cut output to about 250,000 bpd from about 850,000 bpd before the BTC link was damaged. The BTC line has been out of action following the explosion and fire that occurred on August 6 in the line’s Turkish sector. The export rate through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is in the capacity of delivering one million barrels per day (approx. 50 million tonnes per year). At its peak the Ceyhan Terminal is able to fill 1-2 tankers per day. BTC Co. shareholders are BP (30.1%), AzBTC (25.00%), Chevron (8.90%), Statoil (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5.00%), Total (5.00%), Itochu (3.40%), INPEX (2.50%), ConocoPhillips (2.50%) and Hess (2.36%).

Ten wells to be launched at Bibi-Eybat field later this year

2008-09-10T12:09:00.011-07:00

23 August 2008 - Day.Az - According to the press service for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, currently, the operation fund of the Bibi-Eybatneft oil and gas producing department makes 785 wells. Of them 630 are operating. In January-July of this year 14 idle wells were launched into operation. 70,228 tons of oil were produced instead of the predicted 66,950 tons. The average daily production at the field makes 291 tons of oil. 7 wells have been launched through this period. 3 wells are currently being drilled.

Turkmen oil and gas minister to visit Azerbaijan

2008-09-10T12:09:00.009-07:00

22 August 2008 - Today.Az - Minister of Oil and Gas industry of Turkmenistan Baymurad Khojamuradov will lead a delegation to arrive in Azerbaijan in the first decade of September. The delegation will take part in an international conference "Oil and gas potential of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan: energy, economics, ecology. Strategy of Cooperation", reports the press service for the Azerbaijani embassy to Turkmenistan, according to Novosti-Azerbaijan. The arrangement is planned to be held at Gulustan palace in Baku on September 9-10. President Ilham Aliyev, considering the importance of strengthening the bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, more rational use of energy resources in both countries, mutually profitable implementation of regional and international projects in this sphere, signed the due resolution on conduction of an international conference in Baku on June 17 of 2008. In line with the regulation, a steering committee presided by first deputy Prime minister Yaqub Eyubov is created for preparations and conduction of the event. According to the source from the embassy, the delegation will comprise heads of state establishments, engaged in projection, production, transportation of energy resources, as well as representatives of the Turkmenistan academy of sciences. Delegations from the Eurasian states, as well as other countries, heads of international energy and financial organizations, big oil and gas companies, scientists and specialists are invited to the conference. 275 representatives from 31 countries expressed willingness to take part in the conference. Special attention at the conference will be attached to the directions of mutually profitable cooperation in the sphere of joint activity in the fuel and energy complex, including during the explosion and survey of oil and gas fields, development of fields, processing of oil and gas, application of new technologies, implementation of international and regional investment projects, as well as cooperation in the sphere of science, technique, education and ecology. At the conference, the leading companies of energy sectors of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will present their projects.

2008-09-10T12:09:00.007-07:00

tuscon

2008-09-10T12:09:00.005-07:00

swap

BP shuts Baku-Supsa pipeline due to Georgia conflict

2008-09-10T12:09:00.003-07:00

12 August 2008 - Reuters - BP has shut an oil pipeline to the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa on security concerns due to a military conflict in the country, BP said on Tuesday, further limiting export options from the landlocked Caspian Sea. "We have decided to temporarily suspend Baku-Supsa as a precautionary measure. We are monitoring the situation in Georgia and will restart the pipeline when it becomes clear it can work safely," BP-Azerbaijan spokeswoman Tamam Bayatly said.

Fire burns 20,000 tons of oil at Turkish section of BTC pipeline

2008-09-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

11 August 2008 - Day.Az – The damage from fire at the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be neutralized by insurance. Fire at the Turkish section of the BTC pipeline has burnt 20,000 tons of oil, said SOCAR president Rovnaq Abdullayev, Day.Az reports with reference to ANS. He said it will not cause damage to Azerbaijan, as it will be compensated by insurance. Moreover, he said due to the failure at BTC pipeline, 11,000-12,000 tons of oil per day are exported by Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and 20,000 tons to Georgia by railroad, though earlier BTC transported nearly 800,000 barrels per day. Abdullayev noted that the repaired Baku-Supsa pipeline does not allow exporting the previous volumes, compensating only 50% of volumes, transported before the failure. He said BP has cut oil production from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields and condensate from Shah Deniz field to minimum due to transportation problems. Abdullayev also said that due to the events in Georgia, oil tankers do not enter the ports of Batumi and Kulevi and if it also occurs in Sunday, export will be reduced to minimum.

Oil transportation by Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline fully stopped

2008-09-10T12:08:00.007-07:00

07 August 2008 - Today.Az - Oil transportation by Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has been fully stopped due to the fire, which occurred in Turkey, reports Day.Az with reference to ANS TV. According to a source from BP-Azerbaijan, oil export started by alternative routes instead. It included Baku-Supsa and Baku-Novorossiysk pipelines as well as railway transportations. Additional variants for storing of extracted oil are being checked at the moment. It is unclear when the pipeline will be repaired.

BP-Azerbaijan reduces offshore oil production

2008-09-10T12:08:00.005-07:00

07 August 2008 - Today.Az - BP-Azerbaijan has cut production of oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, said spokesman for the company Tamam Bayatli, according to Interfax-Azerbaijan. "Yesterday we reduced oil production from our offshore fields for security purposes", said Bayatli. She noted that the company has already initiated oil export from the fields by alternative routes. "We are studying free capacities at the Sangachal terminal near Baku and possible rise in the volume of export by alternative routes. Oil accumulation for export started yesterday at Supsa terminal in Georgia following Baku-Supsa pipeline filling. We have also initiated oil export by Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and by Baku-Batumi railroad", said Bayatli. The spokesman for the company noted that tankers shipment from the Turkish Ceyhan port is going on, as the terminal still has oil. According to her, Turkish Botas company continues work for fixing failure on the BTC pipeline.

Explosion hits Turkish section of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

2008-09-10T12:08:00.003-07:00

08–06–2008 – Day.Az, Gruziya Online, NewsRu – Fire hit the Erzindjan-Rafahiya section of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey.
15:55 – "Botas International Limited, the operator of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey, told us that fire occurred at wedge valve No 30 of the pipeline in Rafahiya, in Erzindjan province in eastern Turkey. No casualties were reported. The pipeline stopped operating from the central control station. Botas International Limited currently coordinates works to react on the situation and takes measures for extinguishing fire. We have offered any necessary aid to the company. Production works are currently being continued. A part of production is stored at the Sangachal terminal and another part is transported by alternative ways. Export from the Ceyhan pipeline is also continuing...", said Tamam Bayatli, spokesman for BP-Azerbaijan, BTC operator at the Azerbaijani section.
12:30 – According to ITAR-TASS, Turkish officials ruled out any purposeful blowing out of the pipeline. The pump explosion has become the reason of the accident.According to Mehmed Makas, head of the Rafahiya administration, where the incident occurred, before the explosion they received information about failure on the pipeline."The pipeline is being guarded reliably and I rule out any version of a terrorist act. Perhaps, explosion was caused by technical failure. Related bodies, investigating the case, are currently on the spot", said Makas. Firemen have taken all possible measures to avert fire expansion. Fire at the pumping station has not been stopped yet. Gas pipelines, laid in proximity to the BTC section, have also been blocked for security purposes.
11:16 – According to Turkish CNN, fire occurred at 23.30 of August 5 at the Erzindjan-Rafahiya section of the BTC pipeline. Oil transportation by pipes No 29 and 31 was stopped after the explosion. Reasons of explosion on the line of BOTAS company are unclear yet. As is reported, oil started to burn after explosion. The flame topped 50 meters in height. Strong wind spread the fire beyond the area of explosion. Firemen, ambulances, officials of local municipality, police and BOTAS company arrived to the spot. Local news agencies report that firemen are waiting for oil to burn completely as new explosion is possible anytime.

Azerbaijani government takes serious steps to ensure alternative transportations of energy sources to the world markets

2008-09-10T12:08:00.001-07:00

24 July 2008 - Day.Az – SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev received French ambassador to Azerbaijan Gabriel Keller, said the press service for SOCAR. The meeting participants stressed SOCAR's role in strengthening of Azerbaijani-French relations. Keller reminded that last year SOCAR and French Total reached an agreement on main paragraphs and commercial principles of the Contract on exploration, development and production at the Absheron offshore unit. He voiced hope that the contract will be signed soon and the sides will initiate successful cooperation. Abdullayev informed the visitor about the energy projects, implemented in the region. He said Azerbaijan has good potential on transportation of Middle Asian energy sources. Infrastructure is being improved for the purpose. SOCAR President noted that the Azerbaijani government undertakes serious steps for ensuring alternative transportations of energy sources to the world markets.

Gazprom to Pump Gas of Other Nations to Spain

2008-07-22T07:40:00.001-07:00

July 22, 2008 - Kommersant - Britain’s division of Gazprom, Gazprom Marketing & Trading, and Spain’s Gas Natural SDG have clinched a deal for the LNG supplies to Spain. People in Gazprom said this move will help build up a flexible system for supplying the gas acquired, for instance, in Libya or Azerbaijan. GM&T and Gas Natural SDG inked July 2 a framework agreement on the terms for LNG supplies to Spain, GM&T reported in its press release yesterday. According to Frederic Barnaud, GM&T's LNG director , the project is a good chance to widen the LNG sales before the launch of Shtokman in April 2013. The plans are that the Shtokman gas will be delivered via pipelines and by tankers to the United States and the EU. The framework agreement also promotes the strategic cooperation in part of the energy sales and quotas on greenhouse gas. In GM&T, they didn’t specify the exact amount of deliveries yesterday. Of interest is that so far, the laws of Spain had prevented Gazprom from entering the country’s market on fears of the price collision with Algerian Sonatrack. Under the EuroGas report, Spain consumed 37.7 billion cu meters of gas in 2007, and LNG covered two thirds of it. Algeria (37 percent) is the key supplier of gas to Spain. But unlike Sonatrack, Gas Natural SDG is the main division of Spain’s Gas Natural. The biggest holders of GN are La Caixa Bank (35.5 percent in the company) and Repsol YPF (30.5 percent).

Azerbaijan to join Nabucco summit in Hungary

2008-07-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

July 11, 2008 - APA.ECONOMICS - An international summit will take place in Budapest on the initiative of the Hungarian government to give new momentum to the slow-moving Nabucco pipeline project, which will deliver gas to Europe bypassing Russia. “The Hungarian Prime Minister initiated a summit meeting with the participation of all the players in the Nabucco project: its shareholders, the transit countries and the supply countries,” government spokesman David Daroczi said. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany during his visit to Azerbaijan called for a summit for countries involved in the Nabucco pipeline project and others who could potentially supply gas to Europe through the pipeline.

GUA(M) – another one bites the dust

2008-07-08T07:19:00.001-07:00

BRIEFLY July 3, 2008 - Russia Today - The organization GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) ended their latest summit in the Black Sea resort of Batumi in failure – the second year in a row. Moldova’s president, Vladimir Voronin, again failed to show up. And there is good reason for this, GUAM’s mission is to “counter Russian influence the post-Soviet space” and Moldova has realized there is no wisdom in this. Just the contrary, working with Moscow does pay dividends.

Gazprom, Azerbaijan agree to start talks on Azeri gas sales

2008-07-07T07:22:00.001-07:00

BAKU, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom and Azerbaijan have agreed to start talks on Azerbaijani natural gas sales to the Russian energy giant, the company's chief executive said Thursday. "Azerbaijan could become one of the countries selling natural gas to Gazprom, even though the country bought gas until recently," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said, adding that the company was seeking to buy the largest possible volumes of gas at market prices. Gazprom proposed buying gas from the ex-Soviet state in June. The company has forecasted that the average European price for gas could hit $400 per 1,000 cubic meters by the end of 2008. Miller said Thursday the forecast had been raised. "By the end of 2008, gas in Europe will cost $500 per 1,000 cu m," he said. He added that should oil prices go past $250 per barrel, the natural gas price would exceed $1,000 per 1,000 cu m. He said such high prices would not be an unnatural phenomenon for the market, as some individual Gazprom contracts had at certain times already exceeded the figure. Rovnag Abdullayev, president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, said earlier that the South Caucasus republic was studying Gazprom's offer to buy Azerbaijani gas at market prices along with proposals to supply natural gas for the Nabucco and Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline projects. Azerbaijan is considered as a potential natural gas supplier for the Western-backed Nabucco project designed to bypass Russia and pump up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Central Asia to Europe via Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. The Trans-Adriatic project is for a natural gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Italy through Greece and Albania and under the Adriatic Sea. The Swiss firm EGL-AXPO, the project's operator, plans to involve Azerbaijan as a natural gas supplier for the pipeline. Azerbaijan's natural gas reserves are estimated at 1.5 trillion cubic meters. Azerbaijan is developing its giant Shah Deniz field, with gas reserves of over 1 trillion cubic meters, under a production-sharing agreement signed in 1996. Seven companies, including BP, Norway's Statoil, France's Total and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan are involved in the project. The Shah Deniz field is expected to yield 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year. In March, the gas companies of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan said they will sell gas at European prices from 2009.

July 03, 2008

Russia’s President Arrived in Baku

July 03, 2008 - Kommersant - Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Baku on official visit to meet Azerbaijan’s counterpart Ilham Aliev, Interfax reported July 3. The leaders of two countries will first have the tete-a-tete conversation, while the members of delegations will join them later on. The parties are expected to ink a number of documents by results of negotiations, including the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership that will spell out the guidelines for bilateral cooperation of the parties in future. Cooperation of Moscow and Baku in the energy field is said to be one of the highlights of the meeting. The matter at stake could be development of new routes for the energy supplies. In Baku, Russia’s president will lay the wreath to the tomb of Azerbaijan’s first president Geidar Aliev and meet with the representatives of the religion confessions of Azerbaijan. The first visit of Dmitry Medvedev to Baku is aimed at manifesting the strategic nature of Russia’s-Azeri relations, said Sergei Prikhodko, who is the RF president’s assistant. Baku is the first destination point of the seven-day tour of Russia’s president, who will also visit Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Japan, where he will attend the G8 summit.

The Caspian Sea: a new economic profile

2008-07-02T07:18:00.001-07:00

MOSCOW. (Igor Zonn for RIA Novosti) - The Caspian Sea is becoming a hub of the world's economy. Western corporations are increasingly tapping its oil and gas resources and pumping them to the rest of the world. They pump them not only through oil and gas pipelines running through Russia, but also via lines bypassing Russia: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa, and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum. This undermines Russia's monopoly on the transportation of hydrocarbons from this geostrategic area. But its attempts to build a parallel line next to the CPC (Caspian Pipeline Consortium) oil pipeline and a Caspian gas pipeline are mired in bureaucratic red tape. For the time being Moscow manages to keep ahead of its rivals by offering Black Sea and Caspian Sea countries good routes for oil and gas to Europe. Russia needs to pursue an active energy policy here because it expects to exploit rich resources from its northern Caspian section and from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In the past year alone, several new oil and gas projects have been proposed to transport hydrocarbons from the Caspian region to the European market via Black Sea countries. Russia signed, for example, an agreement to build a 35 million ton Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece, and announced plans to lay a South European gas pipeline under the Black Sea to Bulgaria with feeder branches to Austria, Slovenia and southern Italy. There is also a project to build a Burgas-Vlora trans-Balkan oil pipeline between Bulgaria and Albania. The AMBO (Albania-Macedonia-Bulgaria) project will handle 37 million tons of oil a year and connect the Black and Adriatic seas. Bucharest is drumming up support for a Constanta-Panchevo-Omisalj oil pipeline to run from Romania, through Serbia to Croatia. The United States, on the other hand, advocates pipelines that detour Russia. Among them are a pipeline under the Caspian Sea, the Nabucco gas pipeline, an Odessa-Brody oil pipeline and a Samsun-Ceyhan gas pipeline. Judging from these projects, some of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea countries will become key transporters of Caspian energy reserves. The only country standing to gain nothing is Ukraine, which has no slice of the Caspian pie. Countries looking to huge pumping profits and lucrative orders to build infrastructure feel optimistic, but their optimism derives mainly from the Caspian leaders comments, namely that they have tremendous and easily extractable oil and gas resources. This policy, now followed by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, was first suggested in the early 1990s by the U.S., which initiated an aggressive propaganda campaign called a new Great Game, after the old Great Game that described the Russian-British rivalry in Central Asia in the 19th century. Meanwhile, experts doubt that current Caspian output can fill all the operating pipelines, to say nothing of those to go on line in five to seven years. In recent years, Azerbaijan has been producing 30 million tons of oil a year, of which 22 million tons it exported. This oil is divided between the Baku-Supsa pipeline with a 10 million ton capacity, the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline with a 5 million ton capacity, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline designed with an annual capacity of 50 million tons. It appears that Azerbaijan's total export potential is 65 million tons. But in 2010, optimistic forecasts say Azerbaijan's AMOK oil company will produce only 45 million tons, not even enough to keep the Baku-Ceyhan line filled. It was clear from the beginning that Azeri oil alone would not be sufficient to fill it. Azerbaijan looked to Kazakhstan for oil, which it procured after much Kazakh maneuvering. However, this agreement is only on paper, in the shape of a law to promote the shipping of oil from Kazakhstan across the Caspian through the CPC pipeline to international markets. In 2006, Kazakhstan produced over 60 million tons of oil, of which it exported 52.3 million tons, with 42 million tons via Russia. In 2012, Kazakhstan is forecast to produce 170 to 180 million tons. The additional amounts will travel through the Russia-controlled Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, which will be a continuation of the CPC line, carrying mainly Kazakh oil. Kazakhstan does not have extra volumes of gas available for export. In 2006, the nation produced 26 billion cubic meters of gas. By 2015, this figure could grow to 45 billion cubic meters. This quantity is not adequate to fill the new pipelines. There also remains Turkmenistan with gas reserves estimated at 2.8 to 3 billion cubic meters. As a result, the rationale for new gas and oil pipeline projects appears to be based on the hearsay of the Caspian countries who say they can increase production. But their reserves are virtual reserves and need to be extracted. It may well be that their output forecasts will be slashed, and drastically. This puts an interesting perspective on the situation in the Caspian and Black Sea area if Caspian production lags behind pipeline construction. So far, such a scenario has not been publicly aired in transit or terminal countries because it runs counter to their declared strategy of a "quantum energy leap." Meanwhile, such a scenario should not be ignored. Both political and economic factors affect oil and gas production. Ukraine's Odessa-Brody oil pipeline and the Blue Stream gas pipeline stretching from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea are strong examples. The latter is still not functioning at full capacity because demand for gas in Turkey was overestimated. Experts say current plans to transport energy resources from the Caspian region run well ahead of its production potential. The problem of significantly increasing energy production is a critical issue for the Caspian countries today. Igor Zonn is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and director general of the Soyuzvodproyekt Center.

Shah deniz gas extraction to make 13 bln cubic meters at the second stage

2008-06-26T15:27:00.001-07:00

24 June 2008 - Today.Az - The commercial operator of Shah Deniz field development project, locating in the Caspian Azeri Sea- StatoilHydro Azerbaijan has predicted the annual extraction following launching of the second phase to be 13 bln cubic meters. Company president Christian Haussken said the extraction in the framework of the second phase will start in 2013. "Here, everything depends on our skills. Expansion of works in the future is possible". Christian Haussken announced that the decision on official launching of works will be adopted in the first quarter of 2009. As for the offer to sell Shah Deniz gas to Iran and Russia, he noted that initially the company must estimate the cost of the issue and after it the variants of sale will be discussed. It should be noted that Shah Deniz annual gas extraction currently makes 4-5 bln cubic meters. It should be reminded that volume of natural gas extraction from the Shah Deniz field in 2007 made 3.16 bln cubic meters, which is up 12.4 in comparison with the due forecast. SOCAR accounted for 1.594 bln cubic meters in the whole volume of extraction. The extraction volumes made 13.84 mln cubic meters in January, 43.07 mln cubic meters in February, 115.34 mln cubic meters in March, 109.33 mln cubic meters in April, 100.01 mln cubic meters in May, 157.16 mln cubic meters in June, 169.346 mln cubic meters in July, 156.84 mln cubic meters in August, 133.88 mln cubic meters in September, 168.5 mln cubic meters in October, 181.993 mln cubic meters in November and 244.73 mln cubic meters in December. Gas is currently being extracted in four wells. The production sharing agreement involves BP (operator-25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%) and TRAO (9%).

Anne Derse - US will support Azerbaijan in WTO accession

2008-06-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

24 June 2008 - Today.Az - US ambassador Anne Derse highly evaluates the process of Azerbaijan's WTO accession, reports the press service for the Economic Development Ministry, according to Novosti-Azerbaijan. During the meeting with Minister Heydar Babayev on Monday the US ambassador voiced readiness of her country to support the republic in this issue. She said Azerbaijan's WTO accession will primarily promote the development of the non-oil sector. Babayev informed the ambassador about the process, particularly, about the recent fifth session of the work group, which adopted a decision to prepare a Fact Summary. The draft document will be worked out and presented to Azerbaijani side until August. The Minister announced that the process of answering to US and EU questions to complete no later than September is currently going on. He stressed expediency of holding the sixth session of the work group until the end of the year. Speaking about the process of bilateral talks, H.Babayev announced that protocols with Oman and United Arabic Emirates were signed in the framework of the fifth session and similar documents will further be signed with Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Moldova. It is also planned to hold multilateral talks on internal support of agriculture, which has a great importance for WTO accession. The Minister also informed Derse that a special department of external trade and WTO policy has been created under his Ministry. The meeting was also attended by USAID coordinator on Azerbaijan Scott Taylor, head of the project of US government "Support of reforms in the sphere of trade and investments in Azerbaijan" Paul Davis and chief of department of Economic Development Ministry Adalyat Muradov.

New platform launched at Neft Dashlary field in Azerbaijan

2008-06-26T15:20:00.001-07:00

20 June 2008 - Today.Az – New two-unit platform No 2387 has been launched at Neft Dashlary field, reports Day.Az with reference to the SOCAR press service. The platform is reported to be set at a depth of 24.5 meters. It is planned to drill 12 wells on it. The platform has 4 moorings and a helicopter space. Moreover, a residential unit for 72 people has been set at the platform. The first three wells have already been drilled there. Assimilation of the first two wells was initiated following laying of oil and gas pipelines on the sea floor. The fourth well is currently bring drilled. The fifth one will be launched by the end of the year. Two-unit platform No 2415 is being installed at the Neft Dashlary field. Both units are fixed on the sea floor, a mooring and a helicopter space have been prepared. Construction of a residential unit is nearing its end at the Zikh-2 section. In line with the schedule, the platform will be launched in December of this year.

Azerbaijan produces 19.9 mln tons of oil and 9.8 bln cubic meters of gas

2008-06-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

18 June 2008 - Day.Az - Azerbaijan produced 19.9 mln tons of oil and 9.8 bln cubic meters of gas (including 6.5 bln cubic meters for sale) in January-May of 2008. Day.Az reports with reference to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan that this is 13.4% and 74.7% higher, as compared to the due period of the last year. At the same time a greater part of production fell on the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, producing 16.3 mln tons of oil and 3, 496.6 bln cubic meters of gas, which is 17.1% and by 2.2 times higher as compared to the same period of the last year, respectively. In January-May the average monthly wage of extractive industries workers made AZN 1030, which is 22.6% as compared to the due period of the previous year.

500th tanker load of oil pumped by Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

2008-06-26T15:13:00.001-07:00

17 June 2008 - Day.Az – The group of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export pipeline, operated by BP, has load the 500th tanker with Azerbaijani oil. This oil has been delivered from the Sangachal terminal near Baku, via the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Ceyhan port. Day.Az reports with reference to BP-Azerbaijan that the 500th St.Elena tanker arrived at Ceyhan on June 14. The tanker was load with 630,000 barrels of crude, belonging to SOCAR. Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil is intended for Triest (Italy). Since the beginning of expert operations in 2006, BTC has been operated with good safety indicators. The capacity of the pipeline was constantly raising and the top daily capacity made 949,393 barrels on May 11 of 2008. Moreover, in May of 2008 another record was set on BTC-within a month 37 tankers were load in Ceyhan and the total volume of export made 29 mln barrels of crude. Overall volume of oil and condensate, so far exported by BTC, nears 397 mln barrels (over 53 mln tons). Currently, the volume of production, exported by BTC, has neared 850,000 barrels per day and the pipeline is expected to transport 1 mln barrels per day (nearly 50 mln tons per year) later this year. Currently, work is carried out at raising the pipeline capacity by 20%, which allows to bring it to 1,200 barrels per day. The increase in the pipeline's capacity to complete by December of this year will expand the capacities of export of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz hydrocarbons in the near future and ensure additional capacities in the long term perspective. BTC Co. shareholders are: BP(30,1%, operator); АzBTC (25,00%); Chevron (8,90%); StatoilHydro (8,71%); TPAO (6,53%); Eni (5,00%); Total (5,00%), Itochu (3,40%); INPEX (2,50%), ConocoPhillips (2,50%), and Hess (2,36%).

Natiq Aliyev - Azerbaijan will primarily export gas to Europe

2008-06-26T15:05:00.001-07:00

17 June 2008 - ARA News - Azerbaijan will be able to export more gas to Russia, Iran, Turkey and other countries after Umid, Babek, Sherg, Nakhchivan, Absheron and other promising gas fields go on stream in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, said the country’s minister of industry and energy. Natiq Aliyev added that Azerbaijan's main objective is to deliver its natural gas to Europe and that’s why the increasing amounts of gas will primarily be pumped to Europe. 'Directing gas flow routes towards Europe will enable Azerbaijan to reach several goals, such as European integration, approaching the EU and getting keys to political, economic and commercial issues,' he underlined. According to him, Russia, Iran, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and several other countries intend to buy Azeri gas. 'Azerbaijan is enjoying a rapid growth of revenues from oil and gas and the growth will continue. It would be premature now to say how Azeri gas will be delivered to the market after 2013,' he added.

Societe Generale to allot $140 mln for construction of oil and gas terminal in Sangachal

2008-06-26T15:00:00.001-07:00

17 June 2008 - Day.Az - French Societe Generale will allot a credit in the amount of $140 mln for the project of construction of an oil and gas terminal in Sangachal, reported deputy chief executive of the Azerbaijan Investment Company Riad Qasimov. He said the credit will be alloted in two tranches -in the amount of $40 mln and $100 mln and the agreement on this issue is planned to be signed by September of this year. "The total cost of the project makes $175 mln with $36 mln assigned by AIC and Azersun Holding, implementing the project. AIC has already contributed its share in the amount of $9 mln", said Qasimov. He noted that the terminal construction will be held in three phases. The first phase envisions capacity of the terminal of 5 mln tons, the second 25 mln tons, the third 50 mln tons per year. "The second stage stipulates for construction of moorings, conclusion of a contract with oil suppliers, in particular, with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan", said Qasimov.

Well of 30 tons daily output drilled in Neft Dashlary field

2008-06-26T14:58:00.001-07:00

13 June 2008 - Today.Az - The 1908th well has been launched at five-bloc platform No 1887. Novosti-Azerbaijan reports with reference to SOCAR that the well daily output is 30 tons from a depth of 2818-2810 meters. Thus, the number of new wells reached 12 and production volume 400 tons per day. Platform No 1887 was launched in 2006 for the purpose of raising oil output on the oil and gas producing department Neft Dashlary from 821,000 up to 1,200,000 (1.5 times). It is planned to exceed the plan of 1,000,000 in the jubilee 2009, when the 60th anniversary of Neft Dashlary will be marked. This requires launching of 20 new wells. On the whole, it is planned to drill 36 1,000 tons daily output wells in platform No 1887. The drilling is carried out by the Bayil limani offshore exploration drilling department. The department delivers 5-6 new wells to Neft Dashlary oil and gas producing department each year. There is a plan to initiate drilling works at two new platforms to drill 24 wells there, in the near future.

SOCAR not intending to be shareholder in Nabucco gas pipeline construction

2008-06-26T14:55:00.001-07:00

12 June 2008 - Day.Az - "The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan does not intend to become a shareholder in the Nabucoo gas pipeline construction", SOCAR president Rovnaq Abdullayev told reporters. He said his company may face a number of problems if along with gas supplies it undertakes the shareholding functions. He also noted that this and a number of other issues of Nabucсo project will be discussed at the meeting to be held in Austria in late June.

Alan Waddams - Investment climate in Azerbaijan is too intricate for individual investments

2008-06-26T14:53:00.001-07:00

11 June 2008 - Neftegaz.Ru - Investment climate in Azerbaijan is too intricate for individual investments, said Alan Waddams, head of the representative office of the European commission, EU ambassador to Azerbaijan at the session of the Caspian business integration club (CIBC). "There are bureaucratic obstacles, but the Azerbaijan Economic Development Ministry works in this direction and one window principles in business registration, introduced in Azerbaijan, can be listed as a visual example. If processes for improvement of investment climate continue in Azerbaijan, European countries will invest more, use human, natural and other resources of the country for mutual benefit", said Waddams. "The EU market is open for Azerbaijan. As regards investments, EU has certain demands. Nevertheless, all markets try to create conditions for foreign investments", said the European commissioner. EU bases on tariffs, which are small and trade is conducted even on the tariff-free level.

Natik Aliyev - It is not profitable for Azerbaijan, as a gas reserves owner, to make forecasts for 5 and 10 years

2008-06-26T14:13:00.001-07:00

05 June 2008 - Georgia-Online - Azerbaijan will not sign long-term agreements on gas supplies to Georgia. Georgia's initiative on signing a long-term agreement on supplies of Azerbaijani gas is not supported in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliyev told reporters. He explained that long-term contracts are frequently violated and therefore, they should be signed for a year. "It is not profitable for Azerbaijan, as a gas reserves owner, to make forecasts for 5 and 10 years. Short-term agreements work well and are effective of goods owners", said Aliyev. On the basis of short-term contracts Georgia receives Azerbaijani gas from Shah Deniz, Azerigaz and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.

SOCAR and French Total sign contract on joint development of Absheron structure

2008-06-26T14:11:00.001-07:00

05 June 2008 - Finmarket - The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan and French Total signed an agreement on basic commercial principles of the production sharing agreement on the Absheron structure development, Interfax reports with reference to SOCAR. Total's share in the contract is proposed to make 60% and SOCAR's 40%. SOCAR intends to sign a production sharing agreement on Absheron structure development, which will lay a legal basis for its development. By estimates of the SOCAR specialists, the proven reserves of the Absheron structure make 300 bln cubic meters of gas and 45 mln tons of condensate. The memorandum between SOCAR and French Total on the Absheron structure was signed in early February of 2007. A contract on the Absheron structure development, which involved Chevron (30%), SOCAR (50%) and Total (20%), was signed in 1997. The proposal volume of investments to the project was estimated at $3-4 bln. Initially predicted hydrocarbon reserves made 1-3 trillion cubic meters of gas and 150 mln tons of gas condensate. Yet, the first exploration well, revealing small gas reserves was drilled in 2001 and Chevron rejected further works. The contract lost its power in 2005.

South Stream pipeline may carry Azerbaijani oil

2008-06-05T08:22:00.001-07:00

MOSCOW. (Political analyst Ilgar Velizade, Azerbaijan, for RIA Novosti) - Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller has made a surprise proposal during his short stay in Baku. The press release of the Russian energy giant says he has proposed buying Azerbaijani natural gas at market prices under long-term contracts. Analysts immediately concluded that Russia needs Azerbaijani gas for the South Stream pipeline, under construction to pump Central Asian gas to Europe. Baku is currently hosting the 15th International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference. Judging by the number of participants, which keeps growing every year, global interest in Azerbaijan's energy resources is increasing. This year, 380 companies from 33 countries are attending the forum. They are analyzing the recent statements by the Azerbaijani leaders about the country's huge energy resources, trying to determine if they will be enough for the current projects. President Ilham Aliyev has said oil production in Azerbaijan will grow to 60 million metric tons (441 million bbl) by 2009 from 50 million metric tons in 2008, and that the country has enough natural gas to satisfy domestic requirements in the next 100 years. Experts say that Azerbaijan has 1.5 trillion cu m (52.95 trillion cu f) of prospected gas reserves, including at the Shah Deniz offshore deposit in the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea, with recoverable reserves of 1.3 trillion cu m (45.89 trillion cu f) of natural gas. Azerbaijan annually consumes 10-11 billion cu m (388.3 billion cu f) of gas. Foreign policy priorities today largely depend on the direction of export pipelines. Therefore, such projects as the Nabucco pipeline, designed to deliver natural gas from Central Asia to the EU via Azerbaijan and Turkey, bypassing Russia, is a political rather than an economic project. Remaining an outsider in this event means losing instruments of influencing the situation in the given region. Miller's sensational proposal is evidence of Russia seriously considering ways to regain its positions in the region as an active strategic player. Russia's former tactic of an observer who underestimates the growth potential of the region has apparently not succeeded. Russia's largest private oil producer LUKoil has left the South Caspian region and gas exporters soon followed in its footsteps, weakening the country's economic positions there. Therefore, Miller's visit to Azerbaijan can be interpreted as an attempt to change the energy transportation policy in the region to suit Russian interests. On the other hand, it may also point to the intention of the Vladimir Putin government to focus on foreign economic policy. Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company, said: "We will use the most profitable routes to export gas," choosing between the Nabucco pipeline, the Trans-Adriatic pipeline and Gazprom's proposal. Azerbaijan has not initiated any new pipeline projects lately. At the beginning of the year, President Aliyev made a statement signifying that the country would not initiate new energy transportation routes, like other countries are doing, because it wants to stay away from political quarrels between superpowers and other centers of power. Azerbaijan will limit its international role to participation in projects supported by the international community. This position suits the West and Russia, though some people interpret Gazprom's proposal as a trick. According to them, Gazprom has proposed buying Azerbaijani oil in order to draw its attention away from the Nabucco project and therefore hinder its implementation. Others see it as a public confirmation of Azerbaijan's considerable reserves. Another argument is Iran's interest in buying oil from the Shah Deniz deposit, in which Naftiran Intertrade Co (NICO) holds a 10% stake. But probably neither interpretation is the truth: Gazprom is considering possibilities of participating in promising gas projects in the South Caspian region, notably the second stage of the Shah Deniz project, which will start operation after 2012 when production should grow to 20 billion cu m (706 billion cu f). Gas export is expected to grow at this stage and the South Stream, which should be commissioned by 2013, could be used to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe. As for competition between Nabucco and South Stream, there will be none when both pipes carry Azerbaijani oil.

Baku hosts GUAM development strategy conference

2008-05-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

29 May 2008 - ARA - "GUAM member countries establish their activities on the basis of regional cooperation and development", said Valeriy Chechelashvili, GUAM Secretary General at the GUAM development strategy conference in Baku, APA reports. He said GUAM countries had same priorities of foreign policy and integration to the Euro-Atlantic region. "GUAM targets are to achieve stability in Caspian and Black Sea regions and to unify reintegration capacities of member countries". The Secretary General said GUAM increased its budget from 1.5 billion USD to 3 billions and trade turnover between the countries would reach 4 billions USD. He said one of the main targets is to reach 10 billion USD in trade turnover in next 10 years. Director of political department of Georgian Foreign Ministry David Dondua urged GUAM countries to restore their energy security. "GUAM countries can play a role of transit between Asia and Europe". Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Boris Krimchuk said GUAM achieved great political and economic successes during the Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the organization. Moldovan ambassador to Azerbaijan Ion Robu emphasized the necessity of youth festivals within the GUAM framework.

Bahar-Hovsan-Surakhany gas pipeline to be launched in Azerbaijan this year

2008-05-29T09:52:00.001-07:00

26 May 2008 - Today.Az - The Bahar-Hovsan-Surakhany gas pipeline will be launched in by the end of this year. Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for SOCAR, the gas pipeline will consist of two parts. A 37 kilometer section of the Bahar-Hovsany gas pipeline will be laid on the Caspian shelf and 12 kilometer Hovsan-Surakhany section on the land. The new gas pipeline will ensure natural gas for the population and industrial objects of the adjacent regions, mainly, the Shimal electric station. The gas pipeline capacity will make 5 mln cubic meters daily. The gas will come from the Guneshli pipeline. Currently, the gas pipeline laying onshore and offshore is underway. The gas pipeline is expected to be launched in October-November of this year.

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan Talk about Pipeline

2008-05-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

May 20, 2008 - Kommersant - Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow began his first visit to Baku yesterday and held talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliev. The main topic of their discussion was the construction of the Transcaspian natural gas pipeline bypassing Russia. If the two leaders come to an agreement, Russia’s position as monopolist in the transit of Central Asian energy resources will be undermined. The countries’ former leaders, Heidar Aliev and Saparmurat Niyazov, disliked each other intensely. Their antipathy was largely based on a conflict of interests: they were unable to share the Kyapaz oil field (known as the Serdar field in Turkmenistan), on the Caspian Sea, containing 100-150 million tons of oil. In addition, Baku owed Ashgabat money for fuel since the early 1990s. Niyazov closed the Turkmen embassy in Baku in 2001. Relations between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan improved with Niyazov’s death and Berdimuhammedow’s ascension in 2006. Delegations were exchanged, and this year a joint commission on economic cooperation was set up. Baku paid its $44.8-million debt, and the Turkmen embassy in Baku reopened in April. The presidential talks took place in private and only the Azeri state television and AzerTAg information agency were accredited to cover Berdimuhammedow’s visit. But the topic of their talks was known in advance, thanks to a statement made by Azeri Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliev. It is a topic that the United States and European Union have been encouraging for a long time. Last year, the U.S. State Department even gave a grant for a feasibility study of the pipeline project. EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner visited Ashgabat in April.

BP to produce 7.7 bln cu m of gas at Caspian field in 2008

2008-05-01T07:18:00.001-07:00

BAKU, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - BP is planning to produce 7.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 1.9 million tons of condensate from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea in 2008, the British energy giant said on Wednesday. BP is developing the huge field under a production sharing agreement along with six other companies including Norway's Statoil, France's Total, and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. The company said that 3.1 billion cu m of gas and 0.8 million tons of condensate had been produced at Shah Deniz in 2007. Daily output currently stands at 19.8 million cu m of gas and 40,000 barrels of condensate. During the project's first stage, annual gas output at the Shah Deniz field is expected to reach 8.5 billion cubic meters annually. The company said operational spending will reach $123 million this year, with capital spending at $496 million. Annual gas output is expected to reach 12 billion cubic meters by 2012 during the project's second stage, and 20 billion cubic meters by 2015 during the third stage.

Great Britain accounts for half of investments into Azerbaijan's economy

2008-04-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

28 April 2008 - Today.Az - Great Britain keeps leading by volume of external investments into Azerbaijani economy. Day.Az reports with reference to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan that AZN 568,291,900 was invested to Azerbaijan in quarter 1 of 2008 (5% lower as compared to the due period of the last year) with 49.4% or AZN 281,354,400 falling on Great Britain/ At the same time the volume of investments of the British companies has risen by 2.5%. It is followed by the United States -AZN 123,309,000 (10.9% lower as compared to the last year), or 21.7% of all foreign investments, Japan -64,626,300 (11.2% lower), or 11.4%, Norway AZN 40,757,600 (11.6% lower) or 7.2% and the first five ends with Turkey AZN 32,48,200 (11.1% lower) or 5.6%. France invested 0.8%, Germany 0.4%, Russia o.3%, Arabic Emirates and Switzerland 0.2% each, Iran Saudi Arabia Italy 0.1%, Austria AZN 240,400 and Singapore AZN 23,200. Among financial institutions the World Bank is a leader in the first quarter of 2008 with its AZN 8,300,000. It is followed by the Asian Development Bank with AZN 2,500,000, Kuwait Economic Development Fund with AZN 1.700,000 and Islamic Development Bank with AZN 1,200,000.

Azerbaijan displays no interest in Trans-Afghan gas pipeline project

2008-04-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

28 April 2008 - ARA News - Azerbaijan displays no interest in the project of construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, as told Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy Natiq Aliyev. He said because the pipeline passes a region of tensions, its construction is unreal at present. "Perhaps, the project will be implemented after the situation in the region is improved". It should be noted that Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India signed a framework agreement on construction of the Trans-Afghan gas pipeline to supply Turkmen gas to South Asia. The construction is to be initiated in 2010 and the first gas supplies are scheduled for 2015. The cost of the project is estimated at $7,600,000,000. The gas pipeline will extend to 1.68 thousand km and its capacity will be 350 mln cubic meters of gas per day. It should be reminded that the idea of the gas pipeline construction via Afghanistan has existed for over 10 years, yet tensions in Afghanistan hindered its implementation. Turkmenistan, which has the largest gas reserves in Central Asia, tries to find ways of diversification of supplies as it has the only way of its exportation by the Russian Gazprom's pipeline system.

Shah Deniz gas prices to change

2008-04-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

23 April 2008 - Today.Az - Prices on gas produced from Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan will change beginning from April 15. The due announcement was made by SOCAR vice president Elshad Nasirov on Wednesday. "Beginning from April 15 of 2008, all volumes of natural gas, supplied to Turkey from Shah Deniz gas condensate field, will be sold by new price. The talks are currently held with Turkish partners but the time of completion of talks is not known. Anyway, beginning from April 15, the price on gas will change regardless of terms of talks", the vice president noted. "New price for Azerbaijani gas will be calculated by a new formula. He said the price limit will not be set while establishing a new price as it has been made earlier. While concluding the agreement on gas sale and purchase with Turkey, the lower limit was set in the amount of $70 per 1000 cubic meters and the upper limit $120 per 1000 cubic meters", noted he.

SOCAR president receives US deputy secretary of state

2008-04-29T13:35:00.001-07:00

22 April 2008 - Day.Az - SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev received deputy US secretary of state Ruben Jeffrey. Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for SOCAR that Abdullayev informed the visitor about energy projects, implemented in our country. He noted that currently the works are carried out for transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. He said Azerbaijan has an infrastructure for transportation of Middle Asian gas to the European markets and is ready to present it for the purpose. Abdullayev also informed the visitor about the program of SOCAR development and future plans on oil and gas extraction. In turn, Jeffrey noted that the State Oil Company plays a significant role in the region. He said the activity promises good future to Azerbaijan. He said the United State will provide further assistance to Azerbaijan in energy projects implementation.

BP begins oil production from Azerbaijan's Gunashli project

2008-04-29T13:31:00.001-07:00

22 April 2008 - Thomson Financial News - BP begins oil production from Azerbaijan's Gunashli projectBP Plc said oil production has started from the deepwater Gunashli complex in Azerbaijan. Production will increase through 2008 as more wells are brought on stream. Peak output from the site is expected to reach 320,000 barrels a day, bringing the total Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) production to over 1 million barrels a day, it said. Production start-up at Gunashli, which comprises a drilling and production platform bridge linked to a water injection and gas compression platform, completes the third phase of development of the ACG field. 'The start up of the DWG (Deep Water Gunashli) complex is an achievement we can all be proud of. This achievement maintains our track record of on schedule project delivery for the development of the ACG field,' said Bill Schrader, president of BP (nyse: BP - news - people )-Azerbaijan. BP is the project operator with a 34.1 percent stake, while partners Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people ) Corp owns 10.2 percent, Socar 10 percent, Inpex 10 pct, StatoilHydro 8.6 percent, ExxonMobil Corp (nyse: XOM - news - people ) 8 percent, TPAO 6.8 percent, Devon 5.6 percent, Itochu 3.9 percent, and Hess (nyse: HES - news - people ) 2.7 percent.

Baku-Tbilisi-Erzirum pipeline transports 1,200,000,000 cubic meters of gas in Q1

2008-04-29T13:29:00.001-07:00

21 April 2008 - Day.Az - In the first quarter the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzirum pipeline transported 1,200,000,000 cubic meters of gas. In the first quarter of 2008 the main pipelines of Azerbaijan transported 11,800,000 tons of oil and 2,600,000,000 cubic meters of gas. Day.Az reports with reference to the State Statistical Committee, the volume of oil transportation is 35.6% higher as compared to the same period of the last year and gas -80.7%. 3/4 oil transportation via the pipeline fall on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and through the reported period 8,800,000 tons of oil were pumped from Baku within the said period. The South Caucasus gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzirum) transported 27.6% or 1,200,000,000 cubic meters of gas.

Azerbaijan raises share in Azeri-Chyrag-Guneshli perspective structure development

2008-04-29T13:27:00.001-07:00

18 April 2008 - Today.Az - The share of the Azerbaijani government in the project of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli perspective structure development has risen from 50 up to 75% since April 1. The due announcement was made by Shahmar Movsumov, chief executive of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan. He said the share of the consortium has reduced from 50% down to 25% as compared to the beginning of the year. The said process depends on oil prices on the world market. The head of the fund also noted that the share of the Azerbaijani government in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli project made up 25% in 2007.

Greece negotiating on Azerbaijani gas supplies

2008-04-29T13:25:00.001-07:00

16 April 2008 - ARA News - Greece has agreed to join the Kremlin-backed South Stream gas pipeline project, further boosting energy ties with Russia, Greece’s Development Minister Christos Folias was quoted by Reuters as saying. Folias, who has also had talks on gas provision with several other countries, including Azerbaijan and Algeria, said he did not think Greece was increasing its energy dependence on Moscow by joining South Stream. "Russia is a very big energy player and the positive ties we currently enjoy can only be a good thing. We have agreed to be part of the South Stream project. We are now discussing technical details to formulate a document that we can then sign. The political will is there from both sides (Russia and Greece)" he added. In order not to dissatisfy advocates of the US and EU-backed Nabucco pipeline, designed to eventually pump 31 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe mainly from the Caspian region, Christos Folias said he did not view the pipelines as rivals. "I don’t want to see them as athletes competing against each other. I would say they are complementing each other and are offering Europe multiple energy providers, which is good", he noted. The pipeline, which will be jointly built by Gazprom, will eventually take 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas a year to southern Europe, with Greece becoming a transit state on the southern arm of the pipeline pumping gas to Italy. The pipeline will run from Russia via a 900-km underwater pipeline across the Black Sea to Europe. Fellow Balkan nations Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as Hungary, recently joined the South Stream project. The South Stream project is seen as a rival to the planned Nabucco pipeline. South Stream project is estimated to cost twice as much as Nabucco. The US and EU support the idea of taking Turkmen and Kazakh gas via the Trans-Caspian submarine pipeline [Tengiz-Turkmenbashy-Baku (Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan)] route] to Turkey through the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline), and onward to Europe via Nabucco Pipeline. The Nabucco Gas Pipeline is a 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) project that will transport the Caspian gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Five-billion-euro (7.4-billion-dollar) pipeline will pump 31 billion cubic meters of gas each year from the Middle East to Europe from at least 2012. It is likely to deliver the first gas to Europe in 2013.

International Conference GUAM Development Strategy to take place in Baku

2008-04-29T13:19:00.001-07:00

15 April 2008 - Today.Az - An international conference on "GUAM Development Strategy" will be held in Baku by the Azerbaijan Banks Association in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry in late May, said ABA executive manager Farhad Aliyev. He said the decision to arrange the conference was adopted last week at the ABA session. The conference is expected to be attended by leaders of the banking associations of the GUAM states, representatives of business circles as well as Foreign Ministries. It should be noted that ABA was founded in March of 1990. Currently the structure includes 44 banks and 4 non-banking organizations.

Turkmenistan agrees to give at least 10 billion cubic meters to Europe via Azerbaijan

2008-04-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

14 April 2008 - ARA News - Turkmenistan has agreed to supply 10 billion cubic meters of gas per annum to the European Union via the Caspian Sea, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told the Financial Times after the EU-Central Asian meeting on April 9-10. She said it was "a very important first step forward", but noted it was not a "vast quantity". As to the technical part of transferring the gas to Europe, Turkmenistan would have to weigh up options of either building a direct pipeline between off-shore installations in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, building a link connecting the two countries through Kazakhstan or compress the gas into liquid form and transfer it via tankers to Baku. The Turkmen government’s official website didn’t give details and the amount agreed in the meeting. The website reads that Turkmenistan and the EU signed a "memorandum on cooperation in the energy sphere", “Turkmenistan is interested in expanding export routes" and "concerned partners are invited to participate in large projects." Experts insist that Turkmenistan’s hesitation chiefly comes from the short-term view that Turkmen-Russian gas deal (envisions selling up to 80 billion cubic meters of gas to Russia per year) is more promising than a yet-unready project and Gazprom’s promise to pay “European market price” to Central Asian gas. The US and EU support the idea of taking Turkmen and Kazakh gas via the Trans-Caspian submarine pipeline [Tengiz-Turkmenbashy-Baku (Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan)] route] to Turkey through the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline), and onward to Europe via Nabucco Pipeline. The Nabucco Gas Pipeline is a 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) project that will transport the Caspian gas from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. The pipeline consortium - Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Ltd. is equally owned (16.67% each) by Austria’s OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Turkey’s Botas, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and Romania’s Transgaz and Germany’s RWE. Five-billion-euro (7.4-billion-dollar) pipeline to feed 31 billion cubic meters of gas each year from the Middle East to Europe from 2012 at the earliest. It is likely to deliver the first gas to Europe in 2013.

BTC pipeline pumps over 2,000,000 tons of Azeri oil in March

2008-04-29T13:15:00.001-07:00

10 April 2008 - Today.Az - The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumped 2,899,938 tons of Azeri oil in March. Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan that the said pipeline transported 8,780,530 tons of oil in the first three months of this year. On the whole, the BTC pipeline has pumped 46,444,175 tons of oil since the moment of its commissioning until April 1 of this year.

Azerbaijan's strategic monetary reserves to reach $10,000,000,000

2008-04-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

09 April 2008 - Day.Az - The strategic monetary reserves will reach $10,000,000,000 in the near future, said Rufat Aslanly, deputy chairman of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, Day.Az reports. He said the reserves have risen by 4.5 times through the last 4 years and topped $7,000,000,000 as of early 2008 and such growth dynamics will be observed in 2008-2009. He added that the National Bank of Azerbaijan carried out intervention on the monetary market of Azerbaijan in the amount of $120,000,000 in the first quarter of this year.

Baku-Ceyhan pipeline's capacity currently making up 875,000 barrels per day

2008-04-02T08:03:00.001-07:00

02 April 2008 - Today.Az – Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will pump 1,000,000 barrels of oil daily by the end of 2008, BTC Turkish manager Jan Sufi said, Day.Az reports with reference to Reuters. He said, the pipeline currently transports 875,000 barrels of oil. "By the end of this year we will pass to the full capacity of the pipeline -1,000,000 barrels", he said. It should be noted that this will make up nearly 50,000,000 tons per year. In period of maximal activeness the Ceyhan terminal will ship 1-2 tankers daily. All workds on raising the pipeline capacity up to 1,200,000 barrels of oil daily, which will require less than $100,000,000, will complete in 2008. "There is a plan to raise the capacity of the pipeline up to 1,600,000 barrels of oil daily in 2010-2012", Jan Sufi said.

BTC production set for boosting

2008-04-02T08:01:00.001-07:00

31 March 2008 - Upstream staff - The BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) is to have its capacity pumped up to 1.2 million barrels per day for 2009. This year the pipeline is to see production boosted from the current 875,000 bpd to 1 million bpd. Meanwhile, production could be pushed further to 1.6 million by 2012-2013, said BTC Turkey manager Can Suphi to Reuters. The lion's share of the pipeline's oil comes from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore project in the Caspian Sea, before being routed through Georgia and Turkey. BP owns 30.1% of the BTC, while Socar holds 25%. Other shareholders include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, StatoilHydro, ENI and Total.

Ilham Aliyev: "Poverty rate has been reduced from 49% to 16% through the past four years in Azerbaijan"

2008-04-02T07:58:00.001-07:00

01 April 2008 - Day.Az - President of Azerbaijan received participants of the session of the Executive Committee of the International Anti-corruption association, held in Baku, Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for the President. Highly assessing the participation of Azerbaijan's representative in the Executive Committee of the Organization, which unites over 140 countries, I.Aliyev expressed confidence about the successful conduction of a session in Baku. I.Aliyev noted that adoption of a law on combat with corruption in Azerbaijan in 2004 and ratification of the state program encouraged formation of a stable legislative basis of our country in the said sphere. The President noted that administrative measures are being taken for removal of problems in this sphere and discrimination in the sphere of combat with corruption is being prevented. "Azerbaijan continues successful cooperation in this sphere. Our country has joined the extractive industries transparency initiative, The State Oil Fund has been honored with the best award of the United nations for contributions in this sphere", President of Azerbaijan noted. While mentioning the reduction in corruption rate in Azerbaijan through the last few years and the rise in the share of private sector in the dynamically developing economy, currently making up 80%, I.Aliyev reminded that the poverty rate had fallen down from 49% to 16% through the last four years. Tzya Chunvan, president of China's International association of anti-corruption bodies and former prosecutor general, thanked the President for receiving the session participants. He noted that Azerbaijan's achievements, attained under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, cause admiration.

International conference on combat with corruption to be held in Baku

2008-04-02T07:54:00.005-07:00

30 March 2008 - Today.Az - An international conference on unification of efforts in combat with corruption started in Baku on Tuesday. "Creation of an anti-corruption department under the General Prosecution has become an important stage in government's combat with corruption", Kamran Aliyev, chief of the said department, told Day.Az. He announced that 102 criminal cases of 198 officials, charged with bribery, abuse of powers and other misdeeds, have been completed in the result of steps undertaken by the department since 2005 and preliminary investigation is carried out on 28 criminal cases. Fikret Mamedov, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Justice, opening the session, said that complex measures against corruption are undertaken in the country. "Today's arrangement will reveal new priorities in this direction", the Minister considers. "Azerbaijan is one of the leading country by its economic growth rates and the high level of economic growth, in turn, creates favorable conditions for corruption", Mamedov noted.

Highly productive well commissioned in Guneshli field

2008-04-02T07:54:00.003-07:00

30 March 2008 - Day.Az - Highly productive well No 244 has been commissioned at platform No 13 of Guneshli field. Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for SOCAR that the well produces 140 tons of oil and 23,000 cubic meters of gas daily. The well was commissioned by Azeri Drilling Company Ltd. Thus is the second well at platform 13, commissioned by the said company. On the whole, 2 highly productive wells were commissioned in Guneshli field in March. It should be noted that 28 May oil refinery plans to commission 15 new wells at Guneshli field this year.

WB and SOCAR implementing grant ecological program

2008-04-02T07:54:00.001-07:00

29 March 2008 - ARA - The WB Baku representation and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan have initiated admission of applications of potential candidates on a joint program of small grants for 2008. A source from the WB head office told APA that the yearly program is intended for nongovernmental organizations, the topic of the program is the role of civil society in environmental protection and resolution of ecological problems". The deadline for applications is April 18. It should be noted that the winners will be declared until May 15 of 2008. The form of applications and projects are of free format. WB and SOCAR will allocate grants for implementation of the projects of winner NGOs.

The Second Caspian Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference

2008-03-28T07:12:00.001-07:00

28.03.2008 - [Neftegaz.RU] - The Second Caspian Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation Conference will run on 23-25 April, 2008 in Baku, Azerbaijan, at the Park Hyatt Hotel. The Conference is organised by Confidence Energy and Azerbaijan State Oil Academy with the official support of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan Republic and SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic).

WB to allocate $54,000,000 for cleaning oil polluted lands of Absheron

2008-03-20T16:17:00.001-07:00

19 March 2008 - Day.Az - The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan has reached an agreement with the World Bank regarding raising a credit in the amount of $54,000,000 for cleaning the oil polluted lands of Absheron. The due announcement was made by the vice president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan for Ecology Mukhtar Babayev. He said the talks with the WB mission ended last week and the bank's board is expected to approve allocation of a credit in the amount of $54,000,000 in June. He also announced that by the end of this year SOCAR plans to start construction of big cleaning facility of a capacity of 80,000 cubic meters of waste and industrial waters. The facility construction to be financed by SOCAR will be built in the Bibi-Eybat region.

Tengiz delays BTC flows again

2008-03-20T16:15:00.001-07:00

19 March 2008 - Upstream Online - Tengizchevroil, the Chevron-led Kazakh oil venture, has again delayed first oil shipments via the Baku-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline due to differences over fees and other issues, an Azeri official said. "We haven't yet agreed on a wide range of issues, mostly commercial, despite Tengizchevroil's desire to start shipments from the beginning of 2008. We continue talks and still expect the transit to start this year," said an official from Azeri state oil company Socar. Tengizchevroil, struggling to agree with Russia on the expansion of its key pipeline export route, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, had hoped to start alternative exports via Baku in mid-2007. Tengizchevroil, which also includes US supermajor ExxonMobil, Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas, a BP unit and Russia's Lukoil, was not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported. The BTC pipeline is run by BP and pumps crude from large Azeri fields on the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The pipeline can pump more than 1 million barrels per day. Tengizchevroil shipped about 120,000 bpd of crude by tankers via the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan to world markets in the late 1990s. But it has re-routed all volumes to Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk after building a pipeline via Kazakhstan and Russia, known as the CPC. CPC wants to double capacity to accommodate rising output in Kazakhstan, but Moscow has been blocking the plan for years, asking the pipeline group to raise payment to the Russian government and participate in the expansion of other pipelines.

The route via Georgia and Turkey is the most real

2008-03-20T15:27:00.001-07:00

// Natiq Aliyev: "The route via Georgia and Turkey is the most real for transportation of energy sources from the Caspian region to Europe" Azerbaijan considers that the most real thing is to create a new energy route Azerbaijan Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Greece for supply of energy sources from the Caspian region.17 March 2008 - Today.Az - The due announcement was made by Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliyev at today's meeting with Greek Development MinisterChristos Folias, Interfax reports. "Azerbaijan has large gas reserves, as well as possibility of opening new gas fields. We consider that most real thing is to create a new energy route Azerbaijan Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Greece for supply of energy sources from the Caspian region", N.Aliyev said.

Greece interested in importing natural gas from Azerbaijan

2008-03-20T15:15:00.001-07:00

17 March 2008 - APA News - Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy, has today met with a delegation led by Christos Folias, Minister of Development of the Hellenic Republic. The meeting focused on the energy and economic issues, including deliver of the Caspian oil and natural gas to Europe, as well as Greece. Azeri minister said his country intends to contribute more to the energy security in Europe. “Azerbaijan produced 43.7 million tons of oil last year. Our plan to produce 52 million tons in total for 2008 is on target. The figure will be 65 million tons next year,” he added. Natig Aliyev also said that Azerbaijan has exported natural gas to Georgia and Turkey. Greek minister expressed his country’s interest in importation of natural gas from Azerbaijan. The two ministers also discussed a number of other issues of mutual concern. The meeting concluded with a final protocol. Christos Folias is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister Artur Rasi-zadeh, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Economic Development Minister Heydar Babayev, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev. He is also expected to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Christos Folias is accompanied by Secretary General of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine Yiannis Tzoanos, president of the National Council on Energy Strategy (SEES) Raphael Moisis, DEPA managing director Asimakis Papageorgiou, ational Centre for Renewable Energy (CRES) president Yannis Agapitidis, Hellenic Food Authority Officer Evangelos Lazos and other officials.

Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon reserves are not sufficient for the Nabucco gas pipeline

2008-03-14T16:21:00.001-07:00

13 March 2008 - Prime-TASS - Russia's Foreign Ministry: "Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon reserves are large but not sufficient to ensure pumping of 20-30 billion cubic meters of gas per year by the Nabucco gas pipeline" "Nabucco project is possible but prospects of its filling with gas are unclear". The due announcement was made by Andrei Denisov, first deputy foreign minister of Russia. "Nabucco project is possible", he said "However, prospects of its filling with gas are unclear, while they must be guaranteed". "Such technical constructions should not be built at random", the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "Three potential gas suppliers, including Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan, are considered for Nabucco", he went on "Azerbaijan's hydrocarbon reserves are large but not sufficient to ensure pumping of 20-30 billion cubic meters of gas per year by the Nabucco gas pipeline, while lower capacities are senseless". "Iran is the second after Russia for its gas reserves, which should however be explored and revealed and the due infrastructure must be created. This requires tens of billions of dollars", Denisov announced. "Nabucco is possible only in the future", he said in his interview to Vremya Novostey newspaper. "It is favorable for Turkmenistan to pump gas by existent routes". "Favorable conditions Russia will create for it as a transit country depends on us", Denisov noted "Gas reserves of Turkmenistan should be estimated considering the fact that the country has already undertaken responsibility to supply gas to its neighbor-countries".

Baku holds firm over BTC booster

2008-03-14T16:17:00.001-07:00

11 March 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Azerbaijan is reluctant to start discussing expansion of the BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline until the UK supermajor proves the development is profitable for the country, a Socar official said today. Azeri state-run producer Socar said expansion of the BTC link could lead to changing owners' shares in the project after the investment for its building is compensated. "Azerbaijan has offered to expand the pipeline's capacity beyond 1 million barrels per day ... We should calculate if it is profitable for us," the official told Reuters. BP, which is using the pipeline to pump oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) development in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port via Georgia, has said it hopes to expand the pipeline's capacity to 1.2 million bpd this year to accommodate raising output. It has said the pipeline, which opened in June 2006, could start pumping 1.6 million bpd within a few years. Under the agreement with BTC partners, Azerbaijan will become the pipeline's owner in 20 years, after the more than $4 billion investment into its building is repaid. BP holds 30.1% of BTC, while Socar holds 25%. Other stakeholder include US supermajors Chevron and ConocoPhillips, Norway's StatoilHydro, Italy's Eni and French giant Total. The BP-led ACG development is currently producing 770,000 bpd, with output is expected to hit its peak of 1 million bpd next year. The BTC is seen by BP as an alternative to the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline that takes Azeri oil to Russia, from where it is sold on to Europe.

Baku-Supsa pipe primed for action

2008-03-14T16:15:00.001-07:00

11 March 2008 - by Upstream OnLine - Azerbaijan will resume oil shipments via the BP-led Baku-Supsa pipeline by the end of June, a Socar official said today. "The Baku-Supsa pipeline will resume operations in the second quarter of 2008," Elshad Nasirov, vice-president of Azerbaijan's state-run player Socar told Reuters. BP, which used the 120,000 barrel-per-day pipeline to transport crude from the giant Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) development in the Caspian Sea, shut the route in October 2006 to repair the 150 kilometre section in Georgian territory. BP has said it would re-open the pipeline as soon as the work is completed, but has not given a precise timetable. The ACG fields' partners include ExxonMobil, Chevron, Devon Energy, Inpex, Itochu and TPAO, as well as Socar. The group is currently producing 770,000 bpd from ACG and expects output to hit its peak of 1 million bpd next year. Oil is currently exported mainly via the Tbilisi-Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.

Socar makes plans to cash up

2008-03-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

11 March 2008 - Upstream OnLine - Azeribaijan's state-run oil producer Socar plans to raise between $300 million and $500 million through its debut Eurobond issue early next year, company vice-president Suleiman Gasymov said today. Gasymov told Reuters he expected US markets to be the main participants in the issue. He said Socar would be ready for the issue in the first quarter of next year after preparing its results to international standards for two years.

Matthew Bryza: "There are differences between Azerbaijan and Turkey on Nabucco project"

2008-03-05T15:07:00.001-08:00

05 March 2008 - Vzglyad - There are differences regarding transportation of Azerbaijani gas by Nabucco project between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The due announcement was made by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza by results of the meeting with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. M.Bryza stressed the necessity to achieve agreements between Baku and Ankara, "It is time to settle this issue", the US diplomat said and added that each side has its own arguments and it is difficult to reach an agreement". M.Bryza noted that commercial provisions of the agreement are implied, in particular, tariffs of transit. It should be reminded that Nabucoo project envisions gas transportation by Turkey-Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria route.

SOCAR drills 17 870 meters in February

2008-03-05T14:54:00.001-08:00

04 March 2008 - Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-Economics - The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) drilled 17 870 meters in February with an exception of joint ventures and operating companies. The company said 17 290 meters of the drilling were for production and 580 meters for exploration. Up to March 1, SOCAR drilled in total 35 114 meters, of which 33 782 meters were production wells.

SOCAR president receives Matthew Bryza

2008-03-05T14:50:00.001-08:00

05 March 2008 - Day.Az - Rovnag Abdullayev, president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, received US deputy assistant secretary of state Matthew Bryza. Day.Az reports with reference to SOCAR's press service that the meeting participants discussed US-Azerbaijani relations in energy sector. The sides also exchanged views on prospects and role of Azerbaijan in boosting energy

Oil and oil products make up 88% of Azerbaijan's export

2008-03-05T14:42:00.001-08:00

03 March 2008 - Today.Az – Crude oil and oil products made up 87.79% of the overall export of Azerbaijan in January of 2006. The due information has been provided by Novosti-Azerbaijan with reference to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. The share of crude oil in the overall export made up 67.74% and oil products 20-05%. In the said period, the share of crude oil and oil products in export has risen by 5,25% as compared to January of 2007. At the same time, the share of oil in the whole export has risen by 1.1% and oil products by 4.15%. Moreover, in January Azerbaijan exported aluminum and aluminum wares, fruits and vegetables, chemical products, metals, butter, drinks, cotton, as well as tobacco and tobacco wares. As for Azerbaijan's import in January, transport means and their components made up 35.06%, mechanical, electric and electric and technical facilities and spare parts made up 22.09%, foodstuffs 11.57%. The country also imported metals, medicines, timber and timber wares, as well as other products.

Sweet Dreams

2008-03-05T13:30:00.001-08:00

RussNeft ex-head sets up oil company in Azerbaijan - paper

2008-02-28T11:55:00.001-08:00

MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) - Structures close to RussNeft ex-head Mikhail Gutseriyev, currently wanted in Russia, completed a deal to buy two oil operators in Azerbaijan from Canada's Nations Energy, a Russian daily said on Tuesday. Vremya Novostei said Gutseriyev's allies began preparing the deal back last spring. As a result, Britain's Global Energy controlled by Gutseriyev paid $340 million for an 85% stake in the Karasu Operating Company and 80% in the Kura Valley Operating Company. Sources close to Gutseriyev say quite possibly these oil assets will not be the last acquisitions by Global Energy in Azerbaijan, suggesting that Gutseriyev and his allies are setting up a new oil company, this time in the South Caucasus republic. RussNeft former CEO Gutseriyev resigned July 30, 2007 amid accusations of tax evasion and running an illegal business. The Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant last year and applied to Interpol for him to be put on the international wanted list. He is believed to be living abroad according to the ministry's investigators. RussNeft, one of Russia's top ten crude producers with recoverable reserves of more than 630 million metric tons (4.6 billion barrels), faces substantial back-tax claims.

Natik Aliyev: "Azerbaijan plans to bring prices on exported gas to the world market level"

2008-02-20T12:03:00.001-08:00

11 February 2008 - Today.Az - The price of Azerbaijani gas, supplied to Georgia, may rise up to $180-200 per 1,000 cubic meters. The due announcement was made by Azerbaijan's Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliyev, commenting on the talks carried out with Georgia on gas supplies from Azerbaijan. It should be reminded that gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Georgia were halted in early January. "The price of gas should be profitable for both sides. At the same time, we can not leave Georgia in hard conditions", the Minister noted. N.Aliyev announced that the talks are carried out on the price of $180-200 per 1,000 cubic meters. It should be reminded that the figure has previously been $120. At the same time, the Minister noted that the volumes of supplies will depends on the balance of the fuel of energy complex. "Georgia requests 1-1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which does not mean the volume will be the same. We have supplied maximum 500,000,000 cubic meters of gas to Georgia", he noted. N.Aliyev added that SOCAR is currently selling its gas for $120 per 1,000. "This price must be reviewed and brought to the world level", he concluded.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline's January transportations top 2,000,000 tons

2008-02-20T12:01:00.001-08:00

09 February 2008 - Day.Az – The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline transported 2,877,793 tons of Azeri oil in January, 2008. The due information has been provided by Day.Az referring to the press service for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. It should be noted that a total of 40,267,683 tons of oil were transported by the said route as of February 1 of 2008.

SOCAR to operate Azeri section of Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline

2008-02-20T11:59:00.001-08:00

06 February 2008 - ARA - The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has undertaken operating of the Azeri section of Baku-Novorossiysk Oil Pipeline since February 2. Prior to this, the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline has been operated by Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC). SOCAR exported 1.2 million tons of crude oil via the pipeline in 2007. 256 tons of oil was pumped in January, 2008. Azerbaijan has been exporting oil through Baku-Novorossiysk route since 1997.