Socar of Azerbaijan pumped less oil in first two months of 2013
BAKU. April 12. KAZINFORM State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, or Socar, pumped less crude oil and natural gas in the first two months of the year, reflecting a slump in total Azeri output.
Oil output at the national energy producer fell 1.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.35 million metric tons, the company said today on its website, without giving a reason for the drop. Gas output retreated 2.8 percent to 1.12 billion cubic meters.
Total oil volumes from the Caspian Sea nation, the largest crude producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia and Kazakhstan, fell 3.6 percent in the period, while output of marketable gas shrank 5 percent, the State Statistics Committee said March 15. Production also declined in 2012 and 2011, Kazinform has learnt from Bloomberg.
Socar First Vice President Xosbaxt Yusifzada said last year that production had dropped because of aging wells. The Baku- based company holds a stake in BP Plc (BP/)'s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfield, which cut production 7 percent in 2012.