Oil production from Western Azeri platform resumed

"Oil production from the Western Azeri platform started yesterday and the volumes will further be raised. Currently, oil at the ACG bloc is produced from 4 platforms, including Chirag, Western Azeri, Eastern Azeri, Deepwater Guneshli.

As for launching the Central Azeri platform, the investigation of the reasons of gas leakage near the platform is going on. On the whole, all necessary steps, aimed at revealing and eliminating the causes of gas leakage are held to resume the operation of this platform", said Bayatli.

It should be noted that the oil production from the platform, located in the central part of Azeri field was suspended on September 17 as a measure of precaution, as gas leakage occurred near the platform.

In connection with the suspension on the Central Azeri platform the oil production from Western Azeri was also suspended, as it is connected with communications from the Central Azeri platform. Due to the suspension of these two platforms, the overall production from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunesli fields has dropped by 50%.

Earlier first vice president of SOCAR Khoshbakht Yusifzade announced that the Western Azeri platform will be launched by the end of this week. "This platform is bound to the other platform Central Azeri by all communications, there was a generator and other communications there. But all communications have already been restored and this platform will be launched by the end of this week", said Yusifzade.

As for the reason of gas leakage near the Central Azeri platform, Yusifzade noted that it can be the displacement of layers or problems with separate wells, especially well No 17.

He noted that the variant of bringing gas by a separate line to a remote terrible to restore production can be the way out of the situation.

BP-Azerbaijan plans to produce 840,000 barrels of oil daily within the whole year (42 mln tons per year) in 2008 with about 134,000 barrels daily from the Chirag platform, 243,500 barrels daily from the Central Azeri platform, 235,300 barrels daily from the Western Azeri platform, 144,400 barrels daily from the Eastern Azeri platform and 82,800 barrels daily from the Deepwater Guneshli platform.

As of Q1 of 2008 the production from the Central Azeri platform made 305,000 barrels daily, Western Azeri 235,000 barrels daily.