Azerbaijan Ramps Up Natural Gas Production

Azerbaijan, a key natural gas supplier to Europe, raised its production by 2.4% in 2025 from the previous year, the Azeri Ministry of Energy said on Monday.

Azerbaijan produced 51.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas last year, up by 1.2 bcm, or 2.4%, compared to 2024, according to the ministry’s data cited by the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC).

The giant Shah Deniz field produced 27.9 bcm, the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields contributed 14.1 bcm to Azeri gas output last year, the Absheron field yielded 1.6 bcm, while Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR accounted for 7.9 bcm of total gas production, the data showed.

Azeri natural gas exports stood at 25.2 bcm last year, flat compared to 2024. Europe was the biggest export destination with half of Azerbaijan’s gas deliveries last year. At 12.8 bcm, the volumes of gas supplied to Europe inched down by 0.78%. Another 9.6 bcm were delivered to Türkiye, including 5.6 bcm via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), with sales in Turkey down by 3.03% annually. Georgia received 2.3 bcm of Azerbaijan’s gas exports, a 4.17% drop, while 0.5 bcm of gas were supplied to Syria.

Azerbaijan has also recently signed a deal with Hungary to deliver natural gas for the next two years.

SOCAR and Hungary’s energy company MVM Group signed a new agreement on natural gas supply effective January 1, 2026, which will further strengthen the strategic energy partnership between Azerbaijan and Hungary.

Early this year, Azerbaijan’s gas exports to the EU were declining—2.84 bcm in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 3.2 bcm for the same period of 2024, casting doubt on Baku’s total export target of 20 bcm/year by 2027.

In 2025, Europe pledged to cut off Russian gas imports by 2027, and bet mostly on higher LNG imports, especially from the United States.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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