Azerbaijan in the first nine months of the year produced significantly more oil than expected, Minister of Industries and Energy Natig Aliyev said.
Azerbaijan produced 277 million barrels of oil, which was significantly higher than anticipated, Trend news agency quoted Aliyev as telling members of Azerbaijan’s parliament during a socioeconomic review of the first nine months of the year. Azerbaijan expects to produce more than 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year in the coming years from its Shah Deniz field, he said.
Baku said two weeks ago, however, that production at the offshore field was down because of delays at one of the wells operated by the Azeri division of BP.
Aliyev said the former Soviet republic was able to meet the needs of domestic consumers as well as its customers in Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Iran and Europe.