Azerbaijan, the largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia and Kazakhstan, cut crude exports in the first nine months as production declined.

The Caspian Sea nation saw oil exports fall 8 percent in January through September to 28 million metric tons, the State Statistics Committee based in the capital, Baku, said by e-mail.

Gas exports declined 9.6 percent to 4.6 billion cubic meters, the statistics committee said.

Azerbaijan produced 32.7 million tons of oil through September, a decline of 7.8 percent from the year-earlier period, the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, or Socar, said last month. Gas production rose 0.4 percent to 6.5 billion cubic meters, Socar said.

The country pumped 45.6 million tons of oil and 25.8 billion cubic meters of gas last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at zagayev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net