President Aliyev Rejects ‘Petrostate’ Criticism at COP29, Highlights Azerbaijan’s Broader Economic Indicators

During the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, the central event of COP29 held under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Azerbaijan on Tuesday, President Ilham Aliyev addressed a smear campaign in Western media that he argued exaggerates the “petrostate” label applied to Azerbaijan.

President Aliyev highlighted that the world’s first industrial oil well was drilled in Baku in 1846 and Azerbaijan produced over half of the world’s total oil output in the 19th century. He added that, in the mid-20th century, the first offshore oil well was also drilled by Azerbaijani oil workers in the Caspian Sea.

“If, then, some Western politicians and media called us a petrostate, that would probably have been acceptable. But when they call us a petrostate now, today, this is not fair, and it only demonstrates a lack of political culture and knowledge,” President Aliyev stated, revealing Azerbaijan’s current share in global oil and gas production.

He pointed out that Azerbaijan’s share of global gas production stands at 0.9%, while its share of global oil production is 0.7% — 30 times less than that of the country with the fake news media responsible for initiating the smear campaign against Azerbaijan.

“Countries should be judged by other criteria. For instance, the level of unemployment in Azerbaijan, it is 5.4%, the level of poverty, it is 5.2%, our green agenda – I have already described our plans – how countries manage their foreign debt – in Azerbaijan, it’s only 7.5% of GDP,” he added.

These indicators, he argued, along with other critical measures, should be the foundation for evaluating the country’s performance, not its natural resource wealth.

President Aliyev stated that every natural resource – whether oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, or copper – is just that, a natural resource. 

“Countries should not be blamed for having them, and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them. The people need them. So, this is my message. As the President of COP29, of course, we will be strong advocates for the green transition, and we’re doing it, but at the same time, we must be realistic,” he said.

According to data from Statista, Azerbaijan’s oil production has been declining since 2018. Over the five-year period from 2018 to 2023, the country’s annual oil production dropped by nearly 9 million tons, from 38.8 million tons in 2018 to 30.1 million tons in 2023.

In June, Azerbaijan supported extending the existing “Declaration of Cooperation” among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries (collectively known as OPEC Plus) from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025.
This collective decision aims to maintain current crude oil production levels among OPEC Plus countries next year, to continue evaluating production metrics with three independent sources until November 2025, and to establish a new base level for 2026 based on those findings.

Accordingly, Azerbaijan’s daily crude oil production quota will remain unchanged at 551,000 barrels next year.