Azerbaijan plans to nearly double its production of natural gas by 2015 as it ramps up production at the enormous Shah Deniz gas field, an official at state energy firm SOCAR said Wednesday.
SOCAR Vice-President Khoshbakht Yusifzade told a Caspian Sea oil and gas conference in Baku that Azerbaijani gas production will soar to 47.5 billion cubic meters per year in 2015 from an expected 27.4 billion cubic meters this year.
In 2007, production had been 16 billion cubic meters.
He also said that Azerbaijani oil production is expected to hit 65 million to 67 million metric tons by 2015.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday that Azerbaijan will boost oil production by about 16% this year to 50 million tons and to 60 million tons in 2009.
British energy giant BP PLC (BP), which is leading development of the Shah Deniz offshore field, announced the discovery of major deposits at the field late last year.
BP Azerbaijan president Bill Schrader told the conference that the company was on track to extract 8 billion cubic meters of gas from Shah Deniz by the end of the year.
"The future possibilities we see here are truly promising," he said. "Shah Deniz is one of the world's largest and most challenging gas fields."
Azerbaijan is a key partner in a Western-backed corridor of oil and gas pipelines built in recent years to deliver Caspian energy resources to the West.