State-back Azerbaijani oil firm SOCAR has reduced Azerbaijan’s predicted national annual output of oil for the year by the equivalent of 100,000 barrels per day on the back of repair works to offshore drilling platforms.
Lower than expected production and enforced maintenance shutdowns, has left global supplies of highly saleable light sweet crude further squeezed as the Libyan conflict saw 1.6 million bpd removed form word markets.
In a press conference with reporters, SOCAR first-vice president Khoshbakht Usifzade confirmed that Azerbaijan will pump an average of 930,000 bpd through 2011, which was mainly due to BP shutdowns.
“After events in the Mexican Gulf BP has made security issues tougher, which seizes production from time-to-time for checks,” Usifzade said. “This has been done at Chirag and Azeri.”
However, gas production is increasing, with 28 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2011 besting 2010’s level of 26.2 bcm.
BP leads the AIOC group which operates the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshil offshore oilfields in the Caspian Sea.
