Almost All Azeris Have Access to Gas
The head of Azerbaijan's state gas distribution operator, Azerigaz, has said that the number of people with access to mains gas has increased further.
CEO Akbar Hajiyev told NGW November 16 that the proportion with access to mains gas increased to 95% of the population at November 1, as 79 settlements were linked to the grid in 2018, and that it is expected to reach 95.7% by end-2018: “During the last ten years 51,406 km added to the domestic grid, 9,301 km pipelines were prepared and 1,514 settlements connected to the network”. (The banner photo is courtesy of Azerigaz)
The country’s domestic gas demand is not expected to increase significantly in the future, Socar vice president for oil and gas transport and storage infrastructure Rahman Gurbanov told NGW.
Azerbaijan consumed 8.1bn m3 in January to October 2018, slightly less than the same period last year. Power plants account for 50% of gas use, but the country plans to install renewables to reduce that offtake by 0.4bn m3/yr in the mid-2020s, energy minister Parviz Shahbazov said early November. Housing and industries accounted for 26% and 19% of gas demand respectively.
The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan released a report Nov.19, saying that the country’s sales gas production rose 3.5% on year to 15.59bn m3 in the first ten months of 2018.
According to the 2019 draft budget submitted to parliament, it also estimates sales gas output to reach 21.92bn m³ this year, some 15.6% more than last year.
Azerbaijan started producing gas from Shah Deniz stage 2 (SD2) in restricted volumes in July 2018, but the volume will rise gradually to its nominal 16bn m3/yr capacity by 2021 with the entire volume to be exported to Turkey and the European Union. A Socar official told NGW recently that Shah Deniz (I & II) is expected to raise production by 1.8bn m3 this year, reaching 12bn m3.