Shah Deniz production down, Baku says

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Production at the offshore Shah Deniz gas field is in decline due to the halt in production from a third well overseen by a division of BP, Baku says.

Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh, the first vice president at the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic, said the BP-led consortium in Shah Deniz is not providing information on problems at a third well, the Azerbaijan Business Center reports.

Azerbaijan in September announced a partial shutdown at Shah Deniz to eliminate "existing problems." The dates for repair were uncertain because there was no estimate of the problem or its expected cost.

Yusifzadeh said production at Shah Deniz had declined by as much as 650 million cubic feet per day. He said, however, that BP was committed to a production level of around 740 million cubic feet per day.

Gas exports from the offshore Shah Deniz go to satisfy Turkish and Georgian contracts before moving to regional pipelines and customers in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan sits on some of the richest oil and gas deposits in the world. Europe hopes to tap the offshore Shah Deniz gas field for its Nabucco gas pipeline.