Oil, Gas Account for 93% of Azerbaijan's Q1 Exports: Correction

(Column 3 of table now shows data for Q1 2016, replacing FY 2016; text amended.)

Azerbaijan's current account surplus for the first quarter of 2017 amounted to $380.2mn. the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) reported. This compares with a current account deficit of $432.1mn in the same period of 2016. Oil and gas accounted for 92.9%, up from 91.04% in the same period of 2016.

According to the balance of payments, the surplus for the oil and gas sector for the first quarter of 2017 was $1.5bn, while in the non-oil sector the deficit was $1.1bn. 

The main economic indicators of Azerbaijan ($000): 

In January-March of this year, Azerbaijan received a $78mn bonus payment under the framework of the Shah Deniz-1 project. NGW was told by the UK major BP, the operator, that it was payable on the basis of a special production-sharing agreement clause. If the contractor for the budget year extracts more than the planned targets approved by the Operating Committee, then a bonus is earned on the super profit, it said. In 2016, the extraction plan was about 10.1bn m³, although actual production amounted to 10.7bn m³.

According to the CBA, in the first quarter of 2017 the volume of foreign trade turnover amounted to $5.2bn and Azerbaijan had a surplus in foreign trade at $1.9bn. Exports of oil amounted to $ 2.8bn (77.78%) and oil products $124.5mn (3.45%). 

Imports amounted to $1.665bn, of which consumer goods accounted for a little over half: $864mn, down from $1.93bn in the same period last year..

In January-March 2016, foreign direct investments in the Azerbaijani economy also amounted to $1.6bn. At the same time, 80.9% of foreign direct investment for the reporting period was in the oil and gas sector.

In the non-oil sector, the volume of foreign direct investment for the first quarter of 2017 was $310.3mn (up 31.1%).

According to the CBA, in January-March of this year, Azerbaijani companies carried out direct investments abroad in the amount of $531.5mn (31% decline), including $453.2mn in the oil and gas sector (down 18.9%) and $78.3mn in other sectors (down almost a third).

Azerbaijan's direct investments abroad in the oil and gas sector were made mostly by state oil company Socar: the TransAnatolian and TransAdriatic pipelines, as well as the Georgian section of the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline project; the Star refinery (Turkey); the petrochemical complex Petkim (Turkey), the port Terminal Petlim (Izmir, Turkey), expansion of the network of gas stations in Romania and Ukraine; the sale of oil products and natural gas in Georgia, and electricity supply in Malta.

Azerbaijan desk