BAKU, June 3 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan plans to keep its annualoil output at 40-45 million tonnes but aims to double annualnatural gas production from 29 billion cubic metres (bcm) withinthe next few years, the country's energy minister said onWednesday.
"Annual oil production now is 42 million tonnes. We will tryto keep oil output at 40-45 million tonnes," Natig Aliyev saidat the annual Caspian Oil&Gas 2015 conference.
"Annual gas production is 29 bcm, but Azerbaijan has a biggas potential and we will try to double this amount within thenext few years," he said.
Crude oil and condensate production in Azerbaijan fell to41.9 million tonnes last year from 43.1 million in 2013. Naturalgas output was at 29.2 bcm in 2014. The country plans to produce40.3 million tonnes of oil and 29 bcm of gas in 2015. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze;Editing by Alexander Winning)