Page 46 - GEORptFeb22

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Georgia oil development in Black Sea to begin in May 2022
Georgia reduces gas importa, increases oil imports from Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s 10 month oil exports via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline fall 11.2% y/y/
The Georgian Oil and Gas Agency announced on November 13 that oil development off the country’s Black Sea coast will begin in May 2022. The work will be carried out by OMV Petrom S.A., a Romanian/Austrian exploration firm. The contract will last 25 years and includes an area of 5,283 km2 for exploration.
Georgia’s economy minister Natia Turnava expressed hopes in February that the firm will be able to find significant deposits as they did off Romania’s Black Sea coast in 2012. Georgia is the last country in the Black Sea basin to begin oil and gas exploration works.
According to the Georgian National Statistics Office (GEOSTAT), the country imported 1mn tonnes of gas from Azerbaijan worth $162mn in 10M21.
The value of gas imported from Azerbaijan decreased by $41mn or 20.4% annually, and the volume decreased by 191,797.78 tonnes or 15.05% in the same timeframe. Georgia imported 1.3mn tonnes of gas from Azerbaijan worth $204mn in 2020. Overall Georgia imported a total of $235mn worth of gas abroad in 10M21, which is 1.5% less than 2020. Thus, Azerbaijan's share in Georgia's gas imports during the reporting period was 69.06%.
When it comes to oil, on the contrary, Georgia has sharply increased imports from Azerbaijan in the same timeframe. Georgia imported 204179 tonnes of oil worth $113mn. The value of oil increased by $62mn or 2.22 times in annual terms, and the volume increased by 37045 tonnes or 22.6%. In contrast, Georgia imported 167,133.82 tonnes of oil from Azerbaijan worth $50mn in 2020.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline that runs via Georgia to Turkey declined by 11.2% y/y in the first 10 months to 23.2mn tonnes, according to the State Statistics Committee as cited by Reuters.
The BTC exports oil from the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by BP.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports for January-October totalled 29.3mn tonnes, around 80% of which was via the BTC.
The volume of transit oil, originating in Kazakhstan, through BTC decreased to 3.3mn tonnes in the first 10 months from 3.8mn tonnes a year earlier. Azerbaijan also exports oil via Russia through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline and via Georgia by rail and through the Baku-Supsa pipeline that runs to the Black Sea coast.
Azerbaijan’s oil exports through BTC fell 8% in 2019 to 31.135mn tonnes.
46 GEORGIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com