BAKU, October 17 (RIA Novosti) - Oil output in Azerbaijan reached 37.9 million tons (278.6 mln bbl) metric tons in the first nine months of 2009, the Caspian state's industry and energy minister was quoted as saying on Saturday.
The crude output in the reporting period exceeded the plan by 5.372 million metric tons and was also 2.9 million metric tons more than the amount of oil produced in January-September 2008, Natik Aliyev said in a report to the Cabinet on Friday.
The country produced 17.4 bcm of natural gas and exported some 4.3 bcm in the reporting period, according to Aliyev.
The minister said work was currently underway to increase output at Azerbaijan's giant Shakh Deniz field, where 23 million cubic meters of gas and 6,000 metric tons of gas condensate is currently produced daily.
Shakh Deniz gas meets domestic demand and is also exported to Georgia, Turkey, Iran and Europe.
