Azerbaijan to maintain energy output levels

Energy-rich Azerbaijan expects no drop in its oil and gas production this year despite global economic woes, President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday. Aliyev also said the ex-Soviet republic's economy continued to grow in the first quarter of 2009 despite the global crisis, albeit at a slower rate than last year's total growth.
"Azerbaijan will this year extract 45 million tonnes of oil and 21-27 billion cubic metres of gas," Aliyev said at the opening of a conference on Caspian Sea oil and gas development. Last year Azerbaijan produced 44.5 million tonnes of oil and 22.8 billion cubic metres of natural gas, according to government figures. "Despite the global crisis, in the first quarter Azerbaijan recorded economic growth of 4.3 percent and growth in the non-oil sector of 13.7 percent," Aliyev added.