Azernews.Az

BP Azerbaijan conducts all the necessary work to ensure stable production volume at the block of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil and gas fields in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in 2013, First Vice-President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, Khoshbakht Yusifzade told journalists on Monday.

He said in order to ensure stable production volume at the block it is necessary to maintain normal operation of existing wells and fulfill envisaged drilling program.

According to Yusifzade, for example this year BP had to complete drilling in eight new wells, however, it completed drilling in only two of them.

"Accordingly, it is necessary to ensure drilling of new wells and continue exploitation of the existing ones to maintain stable oil production at ACG," Yusifzade said.

At present, all the necessary work is underway to stabilize production volume at the block next year, he said.

Harsh mistakes of the BP-operated international consortium, the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, have led to a sharp decline in oil production on the Azeri and Chirag fields, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said earlier at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of the country's economic development in the first nine months of 2012. As a result, he said, the state had missed out on $8 billion of potential revenues from what is one of the company's biggest projects in the world.

Participants of the project to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli are: BP (operator - 35.83 percent), Chevron (11.27 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.6 percent), Statoil (8.56 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itocu (4.3 percent) and Hess (2.72 percent). Hess has sold its share to Indian ONGC, the transaction will be completed in the first quarter of 2013.