Oil Output From BP-Led Caspian Field Fell 12% in First Half

Production of crude oil from the BP Plc-led Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field in Azerbaijan’s section of the Caspian Sea fell in the first half of the year, the U.K. energy producer said by e-mail today.

The field, also known as ACG, produced 16.8 million metric tons of oil in January through June, a decline of 11.58 percent from a year earlier, the BP office in the Azeri capital of Baku said, without giving a reason for the decline.

Output from the offshore natural-gas field of Shah Deniz, also led by BP, grew 9.4 percent to 3.36 billion cubic meters, the company said.

Azerbaijan, the third largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union, decreased oil production 7.1 percent to 22.2 million tons in the first half of the year, the State Statistics Committee said last month. Production of marketable gas expanded 8.6 percent to 8.8 billion cubic meters.

The biggest oil producer in the former Soviet Union is Russia, followed by Kazakhstan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at zagayev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hellmuth Tromm at htromm@bloomberg.net