Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) has suspended the production of high-gravity oil in Azerbaijan's Azeri and partially Chirag fields on 4 September, according to BP, operator of AIOC.
"The suspension has been planned and will presumably last for 18 days," a source at BP said.
Suspension of oil production was caused by plans on setting of equipment intended to increase the volumes of pumped formation waters and gas in the Central Azeri platform. Formation water received after oil processing will be delivered to the platform via a new pipeline and again pumped to the layer.
"Export of high-gravity oil is taking place owing to oil reserves from Sangachal and Ceyhan reservoirs," the source said.
The parties to the production sharing agreement on Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field are BP (operator- 34.1%), Chevron (10.2%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (10%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5.6%), ITOCHU (3.9%) and Hess (2.7%).