BP and SOCAR to take Joint Measures to Prevent Production Decline on Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli

Early this year BP Company, development operator of offshore bloc Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli fields, has agreed to take measures jointly with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to prevent further decline in production of the contract area.

A government source familiar with the situation in the oil and gas industry, told Turan that after the government session on October 11, 2012 Presidents of BP Group Plc. and SOCAR had a telephone conversation to discuss forms of cooperation to prevent further production declines in the contract area.

The same source said that the Azerbaijani side has offered to solve all issues within the production framework of the sharing agreement (PSA). “At first we said that we do not want to cooperate beyond the legal framework, because this could lead to conflict of interests in the future,” he added.

According to the PSA, we can create a working group. It’s status will be a sub-committee of the Managing Committee. This week the working group, comprised of representatives from SOCAR and BP, will hold the first meeting and then work on a regular basis. The results of their work will be submitted to the next Managing Committee session, which will be attended by representatives of all companies and the Azerbaijani government.—0—