Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan attends 4th International “Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum” on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals

4^th SOCAR International “Caspian and Central Asia Downstream Forum” on Trading, Logistics, Refining and Petrochemicals was held in Baku. The Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan attended at the event.

Making a speech at the event, the Minister Parviz Shahbazov highlighted the fact of holding such event under the name of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia as an obvious sample for the connection of two regions through the long-term projects by the energy policy followed by Azerbaijan. 

The Minister of Energy said that recently the dependence of oil prices on geopolitical processes has intensified and made oil a risky energy resource, and this imposed an additional obligation on oil states on regulating of the market to reduce these risks. He said that the decisions made in the OPEC plus format are the main mechanism to balance the oil market, and highlighted the importance of cooperation between oil countries in a period of geopolitical instability. He also said that Azerbaijan was the first initiator of this cooperation and active partner of the oil price stabilization. “At present, the price of oil is satisfactory, the implementation level of decision made in December is rising. A new decision on production restriction in June will depend on a number of factors and commercial resources.”

Talking about opportunities for cooperation with OPEC member states and many energy-related companies the Minister of Energy noted the forecasts on the fuel and energy balance of the Ministry of Energy in 2019-2021. He said that stability in oil production, increase in gas production and exports are expected in the country: “During this period the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields and the Shah Deniz field will play the role of the main sources of oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan. Gas production is expected to increase by 19%, and gas export by 25% this year. Gas production in Azerbaijan is projected to reach 45 billion cubic meters in 2021”, the Minister added.

The minister also spoke about the projects implemented in the processing sector to transform Azerbaijan into a leading country in the production and export of processing products and to benefit the country's economy through these products. He noted that Azerbaijan's leading position as a regional logistics and trade junction creates great opportunities for the import and export operations of oil, gas and petrochemical products on more favorable terms.