Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 11 /Trend, A.Badalova/
Azerbaijan's oil production will increase by 40,000 bpd to 1.03 mln bpd in 2012, according to OPEC's November report on the oil market.
Last month OPEC forecasted oil production in Azerbaijan at 1.07 mln bpd in 2012.
"The decline experienced so far in 2011 has supported a minor downward revision to growth in 2012," OPEC's report said.
OPEC expects the largest volume of production next year in the first quarter - at 1.05 mln bpd. Oil production will be 1.01 million bpd in the second and third quarters, 1.03 million bpd in the fourth quarter.
According to OPEC forecasts, in 2011, oil production in Azerbaijan will decrease by 80,000 bpd to 0.99 mln bpd, representing a downward revision of 30,000 compared to the previous report.
"The downward revision affected the second half of 2011 and a further downward revision seems to be on the horizon as heavy maintenance is planned for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) fields," the report said.
In the fourth quarter of 2011 OPEC predicts oil production in Azerbaijan at 0.96 mln bpd as compared to 0.98 mln bpd in the third quarter of this year.
According to BP, the proven oil reserves of Azerbaijan amounted to 7 billion barrels as of early 2011. Oil production in the country amounted to 1.037 million bpd in 2010.
The main volume of oil produced in Azerbaijan falls to the offshore field Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli. This area produces Azeri Light oil with a sulfur content of 0.15 percent (35 degrees API).
Participants of the project to develop Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli are: BP (operator - 35.83 percent), Chevron (11.27 percent), Inpex (10.96 percent), AzACG (11.6 percent), Statoil (8.56 percent), Exxon (8 percent), TPAO (6.75 percent), Itocu (4.3 percent) and Hess (2.72 percent).