Oil & gas news

MURADKHANLI STARTS OUTPUT AHEAD OF PLAN

Muradkhanli operating company has been exceeding its oil production plan since January 2002, as it extracts 96-97 tons of crude a day instead of the projected 90 tons, a SOCAR source said Saturday. The company is to submit an average of 85 tons a day to the state. But, currently Muradkhanli hands its produced oil to Shirvan Oil joint venture.

Muradkhanli will be able to fulfill the monthly plan of 2790 tons by January 20 if the tempo is kept, the source said. The yearly production plan of Muradkhanli is set at 32850 tons, including 8100 tons in the first quarter of the year and 2520 tons in February.

The onshore oil and gas production unit conducted operations to restore one-time operating wells on the Muradkhanli field. According to senior geologist of the unit, Muradkhanli is one of the richest oil deposits in Azerbaijan and SOCAR believes the field bears much oil than tipped. Starting this year, Muradkhanli will produce crude besides other joint ventures, he indicated.

EXPLORATORY WELL ON NAKHCHIVAN TO BE COMPLETED SOON

Exxon Mobile operating company is expected to complete the drilling of its first exploratory well on the Nakhchivan field in the Azeri sector of the Caspian. No drilling delays have been reported yet, the company said Wednesday.

The drilling will be followed by well-logging operations. Generally, the work is scheduled to end in March 2002.

The drilling of the well on Nakhchivan was spud on August 22, 2001, with the well depth being 6444 meters. The boring is being conducting using the Istiglal drilling rig.

ONSHORE OIL PRODUCTION OVER-FULFILLED 2%

Onshore oil and gas production units produced 850,212,763 tons of oil, or 102% of the plan, in 2001, a SOCAR source told AssA-Irada Wednesday. The figure, however, is 2.7%, or 23340 tons of crude, below 2000. All oil and gas units except "Siyazanneft", which came 608 tons short of the projection, fulfilled the plan. "Balakhanineft" produced 223713 tons of oil, or 103.2% of the plan, "Bibiheybatneft" - 135947 tons (102.8%), "Surakhanineft" - 124358 tons (102.5%), "Binagadineft" - 122695 tons (100.3%), Amirov - 105329 tons (100.6%), Taghiyev - 76376 tons (103.6%), and Siyazanneft - 61792 tons (99%). 8710 tons of crude were extracted on the Muradkhanli field for submission in January. The field produces 90 tons of oil, including 85 tons for the state.

OFFSHORE OIL OUTPUT PLAN DOWN 100,000 TONS

The SOCAR offshore oil and gas production association has reduced the oil production plan for 2002 by 100,000 tons, a SOCAR source reported Friday. The offshore oil output volume is set at 7,310,000 tons and the oil volume to be owned by the state now reads 7,210,000 tons, or 117,000 tons below 2001. The onshore oil production for 2002 has also been cut by 63.400 tons, the source said. The state transference plan constitutes 750,000 tons, or 11,700 tons below last year.

ONSHORE GAS OUTPUT PLAN FULFILLED

Onshore gas output plan was over-fulfilled by 4% last year and 2.7% in December despite the under-fulfillment of the gas production plan for 2001 by 4%. The figure is 0.2% over 2000. The onshore gas production in 2001 made up 153,505,000 cubic meters, enabling to sell 7.9 million more to the state. Amirov oil and gas production unit extracted 39716 cubic meters, "Siyazanneft" - 38950 cubic meters, "Bibiheybat" - 21280 and "Surakhanineft" 19401 cubic meters of gas. AIOC produced 549 million cubic meters of gas, or 10% over 2000, on the Chirag field last year. In addition, 3 billion 528 million cubic meters of gas were purchased from Russian Itera and Transneft to keep power stations in Azerbaijan working.

2001 OFFSHORE GAS PRODUCTION 4.4% BELOW PLAN

4,406,064,000 cubic meters of gas, 95.6% of the plan or 203,936,000 cubic meters below it, were produced in 2001, the SOCAR Offshore Oil and Gas Production Unit said Wednesday. The gas supplies plan was also failed with the shortage of 44.1 million cubic meters. 28 May oil and gas production unit produced 2,241,384,000 cubic meters of gas and "Gum Adasi" - 966,146,000 cubic meters, but failed the plan targets by 5.1%, or 323,854,000 cubic meters of gas. Production downturn in this unit reported 32% in December last year to 2000. In other productions, "Bulla Daniz" extracted 547,323,000 cubic meters of gas (100.4% of the plan), Narimanov - 539 million cubic meters, "Neft Dashlari" - 50 million cubic meters (100%), and "Absheronneft" - 35,211,000 cubic meters. Offshore production accounts for 98.4% of the total domestically extracted gas volumes.

JOINT VENTURES TOP OIL PLANS

Oil producing joint ventures over-fulfilled the crude production plan for 2001 by 13.6% and for December last year by 120.8%. The figure was 17% over 2000, a SOCAR source reported Thursday.

British-Azerbaijan joint venture Salyan Oil Ltd. produced about 285842 tons of oil in the best production showing of last year, including 74560 tons sold to the state in excess. The 2001 production upswing represented 40.6%.

Another British-Azeri company, Shirvan Oil, is second, extracting 225342 tons in 2001. It produced 25230 tons in excess, with the rise to 2000 being 8.7%. Though third in last year's production, Karasu operating company failed to handle the plan (93.1%). The surge to 2000 reported 2.6%.

JOINT VENTURES HIKE GAS OUTPUT 13%

Joint ventures hiked gas production last year 13% to 2000, a SOCAR source said Friday. The total output volume represented 88,026,000 cubic meters of gas. Half of the production occurs on Salyan Oil, which produced 44,599,000 cubic meters, while Anshad Petroil extracted 22,200 million cubic meters and Shirvan Oil 10.4 million cubic meters of natural gas. Other joint ventures failed the plan, as Karasu produced 8.5 million cubic meters, or 77.7% of the projection, Azgerneft - 2.06 million (82.6%) and Muradkhanli operating company - 136,000 cubic meters.