New projects will continue to keep oil production in Azerbaijan at the required level.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that President Ilham Aliyev made the remarks at a meeting dedicated to the State Program on the development of the mining (metal ores) and metallurgical industries in 2027-2030, which he chaired.
“If we look at the overall development of the country’s economy, we will see that growth rates are not particularly high. There are natural reasons for this, primarily the decline in natural oil production. Our main oil field, Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, has been in operation for almost 30 years and, naturally, production is declining for objective reasons. We are working to stabilize these decline rates. At the same time, I am confident that new projects will continue to keep oil production in Azerbaijan at the required level, and I hope there will even be growth. However, this is the reason why our overall economic growth and gross domestic product increased by 1.2% today. This should not concern us, because a more important indicator is the development of the non-oil sector. The non-oil sector grew by 5.4% in the first eight months of this year. In other words, we are achieving good results in non-oil industry, and the programs adopted will make this growth permanent and long-term,” he said.
The Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field is Azerbaijan’s main oil-producing asset. The development of non-oil industries, including mining and metallurgy, is among the country’s priorities for diversifying the economy and reducing dependence on hydrocarbon revenues.
