Azerbaijan, Baku, April 18 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
Oil production in Azerbaijan of 50-55 million tons per year seems plausible in terms of reasonable development of the Azerbaijani block of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) fields, SOCAR First Vice-President Khoshbakht Yusifzade said during V Caspian Oil and Gas Trading and Transport Conference on Monday.
He said in total Azerbaijan produced 50.7 million tons of oil in 2010, a major part of which was accounted for by the ACG fields.
Oil production in Azerbaijan may increase to 60-70 million tons a year, but this is unreasonable in terms of maintaining a stable level of production in the country, Yusifzade said.
He said that maintaining the oil production level at 50-55 million tons per year in Azerbaijan is optimal given the country's consumption volume, as well as in terms of rationality of the ACG fields' development and expenditure.
The ACG fields' reserves are estimated at 925 million tons of oil and 280 billion cubic meters of gas.
ACG participants are BP with 34.43 percent, Chevron with 11.27 percent, SOCAR with 10 percent, INPEX with 10.96 percent, StatOil with 8.6 percent, Exxon with 8 percent, TPAO with 6.8 percent, Itochu with 4.3 percent and Hess with 2.72 percent.