Unlocking Georgia’s gas potential

The country is making its upstream sector more attractive to investors as it aims to boost production of oil and gas, with the latter the main focus

Georgia produces only modest amounts of oil and gas—about 27,000b/d of the former and 15.6mcm of the latter. In the case of gas especially, this leaves the small Caucasus nation heavily dependent on its neighbours for energy security, as gas accounts for more than 40% of its final energy consumption. Most of Georgia’s gas comes from neighbouring Azerbaijan and its giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea, supplemented by flows from Russia. The government is seeking to revitalise its upstream sector by offering highly investor-friendly conditions to encourage further exploration and development, both onshore and offshore in the Black Sea, George Bibineishvili, head of upstream at the state-o