Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: Azerbaijan
Location: | Southwestern Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Russia, with a small European portion north of the Caucasus range |
Climate: | dry, semiarid steppe |
Terrain: | large, flat Kur-Araz Ovaligi (Kura-Araks Lowland) (much of it below sea level) with Great Caucasus Mountains to the north, Qarabag Yaylasi (Karabakh Upland) in west; Baku lies on Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) that juts into Caspian Sea |
Size: | 86600 sq. km total (Land area: 86100 sq. km Water area: 500 sq.km) |
Population: | 8,177,717 (July 2008 est.) |
Languages: | Azerbaijani (Azeri) 90.3%, Lezgi 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified 1% (1999 census) |
Government: | republic |
Capital city: | Baku |
Legal system: | based on civil law system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Currency: | Azerbaijani manat (AZN) |
Licensing: |
Country profile
Bordering the Caspian Sea Azerbaijan is capitalizing upon the Sea's sizeable, but still mostly untapped, hydrocarbon resources. Azerbaijan's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an impressive 31 percent in 2006, driven by growth in oil production and the beginning of natural gas production. In the next couple years favorable real GDP growth is expected, but maintaining low inflation rates as energy and transit revenues flow into the country represents a major challenge. Azerbaijan's hope for sustained economic growth rests in large part with its management of sizeable oil and natural gas resources in the Caspian Sea region, through effective management of the resulting revenue stream, and non-oil sector diversification.
After the first commercial oil flows through the Baku-T’bilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) during summer 2006 and the increasing oil production from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) project, oil revenues are expected to contribute to a doubling of Azerbaijan’s GDP by 2008. Although the oil sector represented around 10 percent of Azerbaijan’s GDP in 2005, it is already projected to double to almost 20% of GDP in 2007. To manage the revenues, former president President Heydar Aliyev created a State Oil Fund in 1999, which is designed to use money obtained from oil-related foreign investment for education, poverty reduction, and efforts aimed at raising rural living standards. As of the end of 2006, the State Oil Fund reported assets of almost $2 billion, but the fund’s assets are expected to increase exponentially to $36 billion by 2010. See a recent paper in Geopolitics of Energyfor more information on the effects of energy revenues on Azerbaijan.
Energy production and consumption
Oil | Gas | |
Production: | 934,700 bbl/day (2007 est.) | 6 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Consumption: | 160,000 bbl/day (2007 est.) | 9 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Exports: | 795,600 bbl/day (2007 est.) | |
Imports: | 3,924 bbl/day (2004) | 4 billion cu m (2005) |
Reserves: | 7 billion bbl (17 April 2007 est.) | 849 billion cu m (17 April 2007 est.) |
Major fields: |
Azerbaijan - recent news
17 Apr 24 |
Azerbaijan: bp begins oil production from major new platform offshore Azerbaijan bp, as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project, has announced the start-up of oil production from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform as part of the ACG field development in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. |
04 Mar 24 |
Azerbaijan: WindEurope and Azerbaijan join forces to accelerate wind energy WindEurope and the Azerbaijan Renewable Energy Agency have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance the deployment of onshore and offshore wind energy in Azerbaijan and the wider Caspian Sea area. |
24 Jan 24 |
Azerbaijan: BP launches major seismic programme on ACG field bp as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field development project, commenced a new 4-dimensional (4D) high-definition ocean bottom node seismic programme on the ACG field on 20 January. This is the largest-ever seismic acquisition commitment made by bp globally by all its aspects – area size, cost and programme duration. |
22 Dec 23 |
Azerbaijan: Equinor sells its interests in Azerbaijan to SOCAR Equinor and SOCAR have signed an agreement whereby Equinor will divest all its remaining assets in Azerbaijan to SOCAR. The assets comprise a 7.27% non-operated interest in the Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) oil fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, 8.71% interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline and 50% in the Karabagh field. |
08 Dec 23 |
Azerbaijan: BP spuds first production well from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform bp as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field development project, has announced that the first production well has been spudded from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform. This allows bp to meet its first oil production target for ACE and deliver it in early 2024. |
Azerbaijan - more news
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