BAKU

Azerbaijan produced 594,100 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April, up from 592,100 bpd in March 2021, in line with the country’s obligations under the OPEC+ deal, the Energy Ministry said.

Production of oil and condensate totalled 698,000 barrels in April, down 734,800 barrels in March.

“Azerbaijan reduced oil production by 124,000 barrels per day in April from the figure of October 2018,” the ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan is set to increase oil output gradually from May under a fresh deal, that was agreed last month at a ministerial meeting of the OPEC+, a group of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers, including Kazakhstan.

The country’s quota under OPEC+ obligations in April was 595,000 bpd.

“Azerbaijan fulfilled its obligations on oil production within the framework of the OPEC + deal in April by 100.2 percent,” the ministry said.

OPEC+ had been cutting output by a little more than 7 million bpd to support prices and reduce oversupply, but members of the group agreed to ease cuts gradually by 350,000 bpd in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and around 450,000 bpd in July.

Azerbaijan is expected to produce 603,000 bpd in May, 610,000 bpd in June and 620,000 bpd in July. The country’s output is seen at 595,000 bpd in April, the same as in March.

Most of the country’s oil production comes from giant off-shore Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oilfields developed by a BP-led consortium.

BP said last month that oil output at its projects in Azerbaijan declined to 484,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of 2021 from 524,000 bpd a year earlier.

BP said that in the first quarter, ACG completed three oil producer and two injector wells.

The consortium spent more than $142 million in operating expenditure and more than $463 million in capital expenditure on ACG activities in the first three months of 2021.

In 2020, Azerbaijan produced 34.585 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate, while natural gas output was 36.713 bcm.