BAKU, April 16 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's oil exports droppedby five percent year on year in the first quarter of 2014,following a decline in oil production at its main fields, whereBP has a major interest, a source at the State CustomsCommittee said.
The source said Azerbaijan exported 8.092 million tonnes ofoil, down from 8.501 million in the same three months last year.
Exports of oil via Russia through the Baku-Novorossiiskpipeline were 254,356 tonnes, down from 409,329 tonnes.
Exports of oil through the Baku-Supsa pipeline via Georgiastood at 1.081 million tonnes, the same as last year, whileexports through Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan via Georgia and Turkey were6.513 million tonnes, down from 6.782 million.
Oil exports shipped by a rail via Georgia rose to 244,209tonnes from 229,007 tonnes.
Azerbaijan's oil and condensate output fell by 2.9 percentyear on year in the first quarter of 2014 to 10.4 milliontonnes, the State Statistics Committee said on Tuesday.
The decline in oil output in the January-March quarter waslinked to lower output at main oilfields Azeri, Chirag andGuneshli (ACG), sources from the oil industry said.
Falling output at ACG oilfields - the biggest oil productionproject in Azerbaijan and one of the largest globally for oilmajor BP - have raised concerns in Baku.
BP and partner Azeri state energy firm SOCAR have tried tocalm those fears by saying last year production had stabilised.Total oil output grew last year for the first time since 2011.
BP said earlier this year that oil production at ACG mightbe slightly lower than in 2013 as the company plannedmaintenance work at the Central Azeri and West Azeri platforms,halting operations for a couple of weeks.
The company did not say when the work would start.
(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze;Editing by David Evans)