BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Foreign firms contracted to develop the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field and the Shah Deniz gas field suspended supplies to two pipelines in the Caucasus.
BP Azerbaijan reported oil and gas supplies through the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline in Georgia and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, or South Caucasus Pipeline, were halted, the Azerbaijan Business Center said Wednesday.
Conflict between the former Soviet republic of Georgia and Russia interrupted several transportation routes for natural resources from the Caucasus region. A fire erupted on the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline last week followed by claims Russian fighters bombed the pipeline in Georgia.
"In practice it means reduction of production of oil at (Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli) and gas at Shah Deniz and ceasing of oil and gas pumping into the above-mentioned pipelines," BP Azerbaijan says.
The July oil production from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field dropped because of the conflict. The Baku-Supsa pipeline had carried 150,000 barrels of oil per day, while the South Caucasus Pipeline carried 780 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year.
