Azerbaijan's Gas Export Up in Q1, but Growth Rate Trails

Azerbaijan's gas export increased by 1.2 percent in first quarter of 2015, but the growth rate is far less than the same period in last year.

According to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan's statistics, the country's total gas export reached 2.426 billion cubic meters in 1Q15, about 1.2 percent more than 1Q14.

However, the growth rate of the country's gas export during 1Q14 was 18.8 percent.

The report says that SOCAR's exported gas (487.789 mcm in 1Q) price decreased by 12.5 percent year-on-year to $115.47 per thousand cubic meters. The figure in 1Q14 was $177.65.

SOCAR's gas export doesn't include the natural gas which is produced from Shah Deniz field.

Azerbaijan doesn't publish the price of gas, produced and exported from Shah Deniz which provides the most gas exports.  The production level at Shah Deniz stood at 9.9 bcm in 2014.

The country produced 29.418 bcm (+0.7%) of gas, of which 18.728 bcm (+4.9%) was marketable gas in 2014 totally.

Alongside swapping natural gas with Iran (400 mcm/a), Azerbaijan exports gas to Georgia (mostly by SOCAR), Russia (by SOCAR) and Turkey (by Shah Deniz consortium).

SOCAR’s gas exports to Russia decreased significantly in 2014 compared to the previous year due to temporary interruptions caused by road construction projects in northern regions.

SOCAR delivered only 207 mcm of gas to Russia during last year, while this figure was 1.37 bcm in 2013.

The country's gas export to Russia hasn't resumed yet.