SOCAR President: Azerbaijan Holds 4.5 Bn Tonnes of Hydrocarbons

President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev has said that Azerbaijan currently has proven reserves of approximately 4.5 billion tonnes.

The president said he expected this figure to rise in coming years, the Trend news agency reports, with both oil and gas production having increased massively over the past decade.

"Azerbaijan's forecasted hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at 10 billion tonnes of equivalent fuel according to preliminary data," he told a conference in Azeri capital Baku yesterday.

Gas production had increased more than fivefold, the executive said, between 2004 and 2011, with annual production increasing from 5 billion cubic metres to 26 billion cubic metres in 2011.

Currently, work is continuing on the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan, one of the largest gas fields in the world. The second phase of the field, Shah Deniz-2, is currently under development and is set to be another major contributor to Azerbaijan's gas output.

Mr. Abdullayev said that gas would continue to be a major source of production for the country in coming years, a resources he expects to increase to 30 billion cubic metres a year.

"Increase in gas production in the country is of great importance against the backdrop of predictions on a growth of Europe's dependence on imported gas," he said.