Azerbaijan's oil output fell by 4.8% to 21.6 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2024, from 22.7 million metric tons a year earlier, Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said on Monday.

He did not provide the reason behind the decrease.

Production of oil in Azerbaijan has been declining for several years as the output at Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli complex of offshore oilfields, operated by BP, has passed its peak.

Azerbaijan is a member of the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers, which has been curbing oil output to prop up energy markets.

According to a report published by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday, Azerbaijan's oil production in September edged up to 488,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 482,000 bpd in August.

That's below the country's production quotas of 551,000 bpd for 2024 and 2025 set out under the OPEC+ deal.

Oil exports in the January-September period dropped to 17.9 million tons from 19 million tons last year, Azerbaijan's minister said.

Gas exports to Europe during the period rose to 9.4 billion cubic metres from 8.6 billion cubic metres a year earlier, according to the minister.

Overall, Azerbaijan's gas exports increased to 18.4 billion cubic metres, from 17.8 billion cubic metres in the same period of 2023, Shahbazov said.

Azerbaijan's natural gas exports have been in focus in Europe due to the expiration of a deal for Russian gas transit via Ukraine after Dec. 31 this year.

Ukraine has said it will not extend the agreement with Russia, which sent thousands of troops into the neighbouring country in February 2022.

The European Union and Ukraine have asked Azerbaijan to facilitate discussions with Russia about the transit deal.

The EU also looks at the country as one of the sources of gas to replace lost Russian gas volumes, which significantly fell due to fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.

However, it could take years for Azerbaijan to significantly ramp up its gas production.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)