Shah Deniz production suspended again

Offshore staff

Azerbaijan --SOCAR said production from the first well in Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is suspended indefinitely since Monday, Jan. 22.

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) told the Azeki-Press Agency (APA) that technical failure had occurred in the first well in early January which resulted in gas leakage. The field had returned on stream in mid-January after the fault was repaired. On Monday, the production was suddenly stopped again due to technical problems. No estimate as to duration of the suspension was made.

BP is the 25% owner and operator of Shah Deniz, which is believed to contain 1 tcm of gas, making it the largest gas discovery ever made by the group.

The $4.5 billion Shah Deniz project went on stream last month and is expected to produce 8.6 bcm of gas a year. Shah Deniz gas is being pumped to Turkey and then onto Europe through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline.

01/25/2007