AIOC output circa 19m tons in first half-year

Almost 19 million tons of oil were produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea in the first half of this year. The volume is 13.8% over January-June 2007, according to the BP-operated consortium Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) which is tapping the field.

Slightly over 3m tons of the oil was extracted from Chirag. Output from the field has increased 12.1%. Production made up 504,446 tons in June alone.

Production at the Azeri field rose 17.6% compared to the first half of 2007 to reach 15.541m tons.

The Deep-Water Gunashli field, which was commissioned this April, has produced 388,384 tons so far.

A total of 23.321m tons of oil were produced in Azerbaijan in January-June 2008.

AIOC exported 18.091m tons of oil in this period, or 24.23% over the corresponding period of last year.

574,000 tons of crude were transported to the Georgian port of Batumi by rail in January-June, or 23.36% below the first half of 2007. The reduction was due to exports by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline, which pumped over 17.5m tons of oil to overseas markets in this period. The figure represents a 33.5% increase compared to 2007.

Just like in January-June 2007, transportation was not carried out via the Baku-Supsa western pipeline as the conduit is still under repair. AIOC did not export oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk northern route export pipeline either.

The Baku-Supsa pipe is to launch operation in one to two months, President Ilham Aliyev told a meeting of Azerbaijani ambassadors in Baku on Monday.*