Azerbaijan’s oil exports declined while gas exports surged in the first seven months of the year after the country started exporting commercial natural gas to Europe from its Shah Deniz II field in December.

The country reduced oil and oil products exports by 12.5 percent year-on-year to 17.107 million tonnes and increased exports of natural gas by 56.4 percent to 12.061 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the period from January to July, State Customs Committee said.

The export of natural gas from Azerbaijan in nominal terms amounted to $1.132 billion, up 37 percent from January-July 2020. According to the Committee, Turkey received 6.793 bcm of gas worth $974 million, Italy – 2.561 bcm for $658 million, Georgia – 2.094 bcm for $262 million. Some volumes have been exported to Greece, Bulgaria and Iran.

Azerbaijan exports natural gas from its giant Shah Deniz field. The BP-led consortium, which develops the Shah Deniz project, has been pumping gas from the offshore field’s first phase since 2006, delivering more than 10 bcm a year of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The second phase started output in 2018, adding 16 bcm of gas production capacity at its peak to bring total capacity to 26 bcm.

The country started commercial natural gas supplies to Europe from Shah Deniz II via its $40-billion Southern Gas Corridor in December 2020, when the corridor’s last part, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, was completed. The project is aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on natural gas supplies from Russia, which currently controls 34 percent of the continent’s gas market.

Azerbaijan aims to supply European gas markets with 10 bcm of gas a year, including 8 bcm to Italy and a combined 2 bcm to Greece and Bulgaria. SOCAR said that gas supplies to Europe were projected at over 5 bcm in 2021. In 2020, Azerbaijan exported 13.396 bcm of gas.

The total value of oil exported during the first seven months of this year amounted to $7.586 billion, 18.6 percent more than in the same period last year. The share of oil in the total export structure in January-July amounted to 66.6 percent.

The country uses the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline via Georgia and Turkey to export oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfields operated by British oil major BP. It also exports oil with the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline via Russia, the Baku-Supsa pipeline via Georgia and by rail in Georgia.

From January through July 2021, 115.438 million barrels of oil were pumped via the BTC pipeline, which is 11.512 million barrels or 9.07 percent less than in the same period in 2020.

In 2020, Azerbaijan exported 17.878 million tonnes of oil and 2.409 million tonnes of refined products.