OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2010. The State Statistics Committee (SSC) informs that in 2009 the country was produced 23.58 bn cu m of natural gas that exceeds by 0.8% production in 2008. In December, gas production totaled 2.197 bn cu m versus 2.04 bn cu m in November, 2.004 bn cu m in October, 1.67 bn cu m in September, 1.78 bn cu m in August, 1.919 bn cu m in July, 1.9 bn cu m in June, 2.02 bn cu m in May, 3.27 bn cu m in April, 931.5 million in March, 1.895 bn cu m in February, 1.9 bn cu m in January 2009 and 1.936 bn cu m in December 2008.

At the same time, last year gas delivery made 16.3 bn cu m (-0.1%).

In December, gas delivery reached 1.5 million cu m against 1.337 bn cu m in November, 2.3 bn cu m in October, 997.1 million cu m in September, 1.178 bn cu m in August, 1.176 bn cu m in July, 1.215 bn cu m in June, 1.328 bn cu m in April, 1.529 bn in February, 1.57 bn cu m in January 2009 and 1.686 bn cu m in December 2008.

In 2009, state sector (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan; SOCAR) extracted 6.215 bn cu m of gas with 11.8% decline of production and non-state sector 10.107 bn cu m (+8.8%).

“Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), developing Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field, Shah Deniz gas condensate field partnership and other private producers extracted 10.1 bn cu m of gas in 2009 (+9% compared to 2008),” the Committee reported.

In December, production by private operators totaled 1 bn cu m versus 856.4 million cu m in November, 840.4 million cu m in October, 537.2 million cu m in September, 713.9 million cu m in August, 668.5 million cu m in July, 743.5 million cu m in June, 781.6 million cu m in May, 969 million cu m in April, 1,028.1 million cu m in March 2009, 982.2 million cu m in February 2009, 979.2 million in January 2009 and 1.146 bn in December 2008.

In 2008, the country produced 22.847 bn cu m of natural gas (+35.6% against the 2007 index), including 9.146 bn cu m (+66.1%) by private producers. Under the governmental forecast, country’s gas production in 2008 was expected to reach 27.4 bn cu m versus 16.96 bn cu m in 2007. At the same time, AIOC was forecasted to produce 11.4 bn against 7.7 bn cu m and deliver 1.4 bn versus 2.8 bn cu m. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) was to produce 8 bn cu m versus 5.997 bn cu m in 2007.

Production in gas and condensate field Shah Deniz was expected on level of 8 bn cu m versus 3.264 bn cu m in 2007 and delivery to the government – at the level of 2.9 bn versus 1.594 bn cu m.

Forecast for 2009 was 31.5 bn cu m of overall gas production, including 8 bn cu m by private operators of SOCAR, 13.9 bn cu m by AIOC and 9.6 bn cu m within Shah Deniz Project.