Energy in Azerbaijan - Oil

Oil

  • Production: - 1,099,000 bbl/d (174,700 m3/d) (2008)
  • Consumption: - 160,000 bbl/d (25,000 m3/d) (2007)

At the turn of the 20th century, Azerbaijan accounted for half of the world’s oil production. Oil wells have been operating in Baku since the 1840s. As of the early 21st century, almost all production came from off shore in the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan was one of only four former Soviet republics (along with Russian, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan) to be self-sufficient in petroleum. However, production declined following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union until foreign investment provided the capital for new development, turning this trend around in 1998. Production rose from 194,000 barrels per day (30,800 m3/d) in 1998 to an average of 318,000 barrels per day (50,600 m3/d) in 2004.

According to industry journals and government sources, proven oil reserves as of 2004 totaled between 7 billion and 13 billion barrels (2.1×10^9 m3). The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has planned for joint development of the off shore fields (which are now largely untapped) and has entered into several agreements to build oil pipelines. For instance, a project with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium would carry oil from the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Another deal with Turkey involved the construction of a 1,760 km pipeline, the symbolic first length of which was installed in September 2002, to carry crude oil from Baku to Ceyhan, Turkey. In 1995 Azerbaijan had 17 offshore oil fields in production. Guneshli, about 96 km off the Azeri coast, currently accounts for more than half the annual production. By the end of 2002, 33 companies in 15 foreign countries had signed agreements to develop 21 major oil fields in Azerbaijan. As of 2003 disputes over off shore oil rights in the Caspian Sea continued to hinder development of those reserves.

Read more about this topic:  Energy In Azerbaijan

Famous quotes containing the word oil:

    “No skilled hands
    caress a stranger’s flesh with lucid oil before
    a word is spoken
    no feasting
    before a tale is told, before
    the stranger tells his name.”
    —Denise Levertov (b. 1923)

    “Oh Gull of my childhood,
    cry over my window over and over, take me back,
    oh harbors of oil and cunners, teach me to laugh
    and cry again that way that was the good bargain
    of youth....”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “Eat what you can get.
    Where’s the salt
    in this dump of a village?
    And, Lucky Man,
    what’s the use
    of a salty thing
    if there’s no oil in it?”
    —Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)