OIL production has been suspended indefinitely in two fields in Azerbaijan as a result of a gas leak – halving output from a group of offshore deposits in the Caspian Sea.
About 300 workers have been evacuated from the Central Azeri platform and production has also halted at the Western Azeri field as a precautionary measure.
BP said the leak was still being investigated and it was not yet clear when production would resume.
The two fields are part of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) group, the main source of oil for the BP-operated Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.
The fields usually produce about 470,000 barrels of crude per day, more than half of the total ACG output.
Yesterday a BP spokesman said there had never been any danger to workers after the leak was discovered 12 days ago near the Central Azeri platform. He said remotely operated vehicles were used “to try to pin down” the source of the leak.
“They had to take great care in approaching the platform,” said the spokesman. “They’re working around the clock to identify the source of the leak and bring production back.”
However, he said there was no indication when production would resume. Work continues as normal in other fields in the deposit and there is not expected to be any impact on exports as there are large volumes of oil in offshore storage.
Last month BP shut the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline for 20 days following a fire.
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