Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli Field (Azerbaijan's Biggest) Output Falling At 8.6% Per Year - Chicago Tribune
Baku (Reuters) - BP will have to invest billions of dollars more than previously planned if it is to slow falling output at an Azeri oil project that is also that country's biggest cash cow, oil executives and diplomats say. The investments required to cut the decline at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields are so large that it may not even be commercially viable for the companies to spend the money unless they receive sweeteners from the government, the sources told Reuters.
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However, ACG has not lived up to expectations. After hitting 823,000 bpd in 2010, output has fallen. Production averaged 684,000 bpd in the first half of this year and oil executives and diplomats said the challenge is now to keep output to around the 700,000 bpd mark.
Officials at BP and state oil company Socar say the geology of the field has fallen short of original expectations, but have cited maintenance when explaining the falls of the past 18 months. Industry and Energy Minister Natik Aliyev denied last week that "natural circumstances in the oil field" were to blame and cited a desire to preserve production into the future.
Speaking at the sidelines of an International Press Institute conference in Baku last week, he told Reuters that, after routine repair work was completed, the field could pump at more than 800,000 bpd for years to come.
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http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-24/business/sns-rt-us-bp-azerbaijanbre88n06w-20120923_1_bpd-gulf-of-mexico-oil-oil-giant