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BAKU, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Azeri state energy firm SOCARexpects oil output at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oilfieldsto reach more than 30 million tonnes this year and next, itspresident said on Tuesday.
Lower output from the main ACG oilfields, operated by BP, had previously raised concerns in Baku. ACG productionlast year was 32.2 million tonnes.
"I am confident that oil production at ACG will reach morethan 30 million tonnes by the end of the year. We expect thesame figure next year," SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev toldreporters.
He said any decline in output was linked to some technicalproblems, but the production process was "under control".
"The situation at ACG is under permanent control and thecompany (SOCAR) has worked out its own production programme ofthe block as a control mechanism," Abdullayev said.
BP and its partner SOCAR said last year that output from thefields - the biggest oil production project in Azerbaijan andone of the largest globally for the British oil company - hadstabilised.
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.
Output from ACG oilfields fell to 16 million tonnes, or anaverage 656,000 barrels per day (bpd), in the first half of 2014from 16.4 million tonnes (672,000 bpd) in the same period lastyear, BP-Azerbaijan said last month.
Still, production in the first half was higher than theaverage 645,800 bpd produced in the first three months of theyear. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Katya Golubkova andMargarita Antidze, editing by David Clarke)
