Oil & gas news

OFFSHORE OIL PRODUCTION 5% BELOW LAST YEAR

The Offshore Oil and Gas Production Unit produced over 132,321 tons of oil in January and February of 2002, or 4.9% below the same period of last year. The shortage came despite over-fulfillment of the plan by 6.4%.

"Balakhanineft" oil and gas production unit showed the best performance, extracting 36.000 tons of crude and fulfilling the projection by 13.5%.

Among other well-doers were "Bibiheybat" unit, which produced 20.900 tons and over-fulfilled the plan by 7.7%, "Surakhanineft" (18,100 tons, 8.2%), and "Binagadineft" (17.700 tons, 0.1%). The Amirov unit extracted 14.100 tons, failing the plan by 2.5%, while "Siyazanneft" and "Muradkhanli" produced 8.200 and 5.300, fulfilling the plan.

bp INTRODUCES NEW MOTOR FUELS

bp has started new ecologically friendly motor fuels in England. The two sulphur-free fuels have been introduced at 18 bp service stations in the Edinburgh area, making them the first in the United Kingdom oil group's worldwide network to sell both fuels containing virtually no sulphur.

These new environmentally friendly fuels are produced at bp's Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, which is the only UK refinery equipped with the necessary world-class hydro-cracking technology.

The fuels are claimed to be six years ahead of European Union legislation and the immediate environmental benefits include the reduction of sulphur-dioxide emissions that are involved in the development of acid rain.

The head of bp Retail in the UK, Graham Sims, said: "bp is committed to developing fuels that maximize performance but minimize exhaust emissions".

bp claims to have led the development of cleaner fuels with the introduction of ultra-low-sulphur diesel in May 1999 and ultra-low-sulphur petrol in February 2000. It has also developed the UK's first eco-site service station near London that is powered entirely by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

CASPIAN TRUST GETS INT'L CERTIFICATE

The Caspian Offshore Oil and Gas Construction Trust, a subsidiary of the Oil and Gas Production Unit, has recently received an ISO-9000 certificate in the first ever commendation of a SOCAR enterprise.

The certificate was issued by the Turkish Institute of Standards for Transcaucasia and Central Asia. This will enable the trust to be involved in the construction of the Baku-Ceyhan and Baku-Arzurum pipelines, a SOCAR source said Wednesday. The Caspian trust was set up in 1979 in a bid to develop new fields in the deep-water parts of the Caspian and on Gunashli in particular. It has laid 1550 kilometers of deep-water and 3000 kilometers of overland pipes. The work also entails the commissioning of 8 deep-water platforms on a turnkey basis in Zykh for fabrication in water depths from 84 to 160 meters.

The trust had been working to get the certificate, the source reported.

SOCAR's DEBTOR ARREARS MAKE UP OVER AZM9TRL

SOCAR's accounts receivable constitute AZM9 trillion 966 billion 880 million. The major debtors are Azerenergy joint-stock company (over AZM4 trillion), Azerigas joint-stock company (more than AZM2 trillion) and the Ministry of Agriculture (AZM892 billion).

The oil company's accounts payable make up AZM5 trillion 848 billion 339 million. AZM4 trillion 641 billion 693 million are tax arrears, the SOCAR said Monday.