Azerbaijan's SOCAR boosts oil & gas production in 2021

Baku, January 24 - Neftegaz.RU. In 2021, Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) increased oil & gas production by 6.5 and 7 %, respectively, on fields operated by the company on its own or as a major shareholder.

SOCAR's oil & gas production totaled 7.9 million tons and 7.9 billion m³, respectively, during the reported period.
The company stated:

• The country's total oil and gas production has continued to rise
• This is especially noticeable in the gas industry

In comparison to 2020, gas production in the country increased by 18.1 % to 43.9 billion m³.
Azerbaijan also produced 34.6 million tons of crude oil in 2021.
The company noted:

• The slight increase in oil production is primarily due to the gradual elimination of voluntary oil output cuts by the OPEC+ agreement

SOCAR completed approximately 62,000 meters of drilling work in 2021, an increase of 10.3 % over 2020.

In 2021, natural gas exports increased by 40 % to 18.1 billion m³.
Last year, the country consumed 13 billion m³ of natural gas, an 8.4 % increase over the previous year.
The company said:

• Increasing the country's gasification level from 96.2 % to 96.3 % by 2021, as well as nearly tripling urea fertilizer production, are the main factors driving consumption growth

It should be noted that SOCAR uses natural gas as a raw material in the production of methanol and urea fertilizer, thereby increasing its added value severalfold.

Furthermore, SOCAR's Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery processed 6.7 million tons of oil in 2021, while SOCAR's Natural Gas Processing Plant produced 3.8 billion m³.
The volume of oil refining increased by more than 13.3 %, despite a decrease in gas processing.
According to the company:

• In the context of the 2021 results, it should be noted that the export of oil refining and petrochemical products (including polymers) exceeded 3 million tons
• This is approximately 25.5 % higher than the results of 2020