Oil & gas news

SOCAR AUDIT TO COMPLETE LATER THIS YEAR

The international auditing company Arthur Andersen, auditor of SOCAR, is currently auditing the company's financial and economic performance.

The audit, which commenced in May this year and was originally scheduled to end in August, is now expected to complete later this year. A source from the SOCAR financial department has told Azernews that the audit is being delayed because it covers a two-year period, while from now onwards annual audits will be held, the source said.

MOUNTING OF 4th POWER BLOCK TO START OCTOBER

Installation of the fourth power block of the Yenikand hydro electric station is expected to start in

October after its parts are purchased from Russian "Turboatom" and "Elektrosila" enterprises. A source from the "AzerTikintiGurashdirma" joint stock company told AssA-Irada Friday that under the agreement the Azeri JSC is to install a 37.5 MW turbo generator. The mounting is expected to last till October 2002.

$6.4 million will be spent to purchase and install the equipment, of which $6 million will be allotted by the EBRD and the rest by "AzerEnergy".

Three blocks with combined capacity of 112.5 MW currently operate at the Yenikand station.

ITERA TO INCREASE GAS SUPPLIES

Russian gas company Itera is expected to raise monthly gas supplies to Azerbaijan from 10 million to 17 million cubic meters in November following an agreement with SOCAR. The bulk of the gas will be pumped to thermal power stations, while the rest will be supplied to northern provinces of the country, a SOCAR source told Azernews Thursday.

Since next year, Itera will be supplying 4 billion cubic meters of gas to Azerbaijan, an increase from 3 billion at present.

The Russian company also intends to take part in other projects in Azerbaijan, including the upgrade of the Garadagh and Kalmass subsurface gas storage facilities and construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline.

COLLECTION OF GAS PAYMENTS RISING

The "AzeriGas" joint stock company collected 67.2% in payments for gas consumption from physical and legal entities in August, as opposed to 63% in July, 52% in June and 43.8% in May.

The population contributed AZM2,484,000,000, or 75.7%, to the total amount, with Baku residents paying 67.2%. Residents in Guba, Gusar, Khachmaz, Ismayilli provinces, as well as the Nizami district of Baku have cleared all gas arrears, while in Garadagh settlement outside Baku only a third of the fees has been paid.

SEPTEMBER OIL PRODUCTION PLAN FULFILLED

In September 2001, 744,200 tons of oil were produced with the plan of 731,600. The plan has been fulfilled both off- and onshore, with 611,500 tons (100.4%) extracted offshore and 1392,700 (108.2%) onshore, according to SOCAR.

The September gas production plan was not fulfilled, with 460,800,000 cubic meters produced instead of the planned 477,100,000. Offshore, 363,600,000 cubic meters were produced despite the plan of 379,000,000 (95.9%), while onshore 18,900,000 cubic meters were produced with the plan of 17,100,000 (110.5%). A total of 382,500,000 cubic meters were produced by SOCAR enterprises.

The AIOC produced 78,300,000 cubic meters of gas in September (96.7%).