He made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the commissioning ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.
“It is a great honor and true pleasure for me to be here at the Sangachal terminal on the Caspian Sea to not only witness the opening ceremony of the 25th Centenary Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, but also opening of this magnificent global undertaking, the Shah Deniz project,” said Barkindo.
He went on to add that Shah Deniz is a clear evidence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visionary leadership, motivation and determination.
This project envisages a huge multi-billion dollar capital investment and is one of the largest energy projects in the world, noted Barkindo.
“This is a significant added value to Azerbaijan’s economy. It is also a testimony to good partnership on the Shah Deniz project operated by BP and including many oil and gas companies from several countries,” added OPEC secretary general.
Within the implementation of Shah Deniz Stage 2, gas production will increase from 9 to 25 billion cubic meters per year. The produced gas will be exported to Turkey and the European markets through the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.
A contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The shareholders in the contract are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).
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Azerbaijan is one of the consistently highest performing countries in OPEC deal to curb oil output, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.
Barkindo noted that Azerbaijan played a pioneering leadership role in getting OPEC and several non-OPEC countries to reach the agreement on reducing oil production.
“We will continue to be grateful for that vision that you expressed several years ago that we need to come together with OPEC and non-OPEC countries. I would like to express thanks for cooperation with OPEC and for your support and commitment to voluntary production adjustments. Azerbaijan is one of the consistently highest performing countries,” added OPEC secretary general.
Azerbaijan presented data on its daily oil production in April 2018 to the OPEC Joint Technical Committee as part of the Vienna Agreement.
Daily oil production stood at 785,700 barrels in April 2018, of which 755,700 barrels accounted for crude oil and 30,000 barrels for condensate.
Meanwhile, 623,600 barrels of crude oil, 30,000 barrels of condensate and 21,700 barrels of oil products were exported per day.
Azerbaijan’s average daily oil production stood at 781,900 barrels in 2017 under the OPEC agreement to curb daily crude output by 834,000 barrels, said the ministry.
In January 2018, daily oil production stood at 814,600 barrels, in February 2018 – at 806,000 barrels and in March - 794,000 barrels.
In December 2016, at a meeting of oil producers in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC member countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to cut oil production by a total of 558,000 barrels a day. The agreement was concluded for the first half of 2017 and was extended until the end of the first quarter of 2018 at a meeting on May 25, 2017.
At the last OPEC meeting in Vienna, the agreement was again extended until the end of 2018. Azerbaijan supported the decision.
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