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Indefinite when oil output will restart in two largest offshore platforms in Azerbaijan

22 September 2008 14:33 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. Azerbaijan International Operating Company is investigating the cause of gas leak at West Azeri and Central Azeri platforms in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.
The BP-led consortium first halted oil production at Central Azeri field due to a gas leak and then suspended West Azeri last week, halving oil extraction from the group of giant Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli Fields.
.After gas leak was detected, the staff was evacuated and the works halted as safety measure.
The consortium said divers have also been involved in troubleshooting.
Neither AIOC nor State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) knows when production will be resumed.
The Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) group of fields produces more than 800,000 barrels per day.
The total daily production rate at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli reached 841,169 barrels per day in July.
The average production rate was 668,624 barrels per day at Azeri.
According to the outlook for 2008, about 134,000 barrels per day is expected from Chirag, 243,500 barrels per day from Central Azeri, 235,300 barrels per day from West Azeri, 144,400 barrels per day from East Azeri and 82,800 barrels per day from DWG.
The Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfields are the main source of oil for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which takes crude oil from Azerbaijan to the Turkish Port of Ceyhan for world markets.
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli participating interests are: BP (operator â€“ 34.1%), Chevron (10.2%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (10%), StatoilHydro (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5.6%), ITOCHU (3.9%), Hess (2.7%).