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BAKU, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan expects to produce 40million tonnes of oil and 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gasin 2016, a senior official at state energy company SOCAR said,roughly steady compared with this year.
Azerbaijan plans to produce 40.7 million tonnes of oil and30.2 bcm of gas in 2015.
The official said 32 million tonnes out of 40 million tonnesof oil next year were expected to be produced at the main Azeri,Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by Britain's BP.
Falling output at the ACG oilfields has been a cause ofconcern in Baku.
BP and SOCAR, its partner, tried to calm worries in 2013,saying production had stabilised. Total oil output rose in 2013for the first time since 2011, but the decline resumed in 2014.
Crude oil and condensate production in Azerbaijan fell to27.9 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2015 from 28.6million tonnes a year earlier due to declining output at the ACGfields.
Natural gas production fell to 19.1 billion cubic metres(bcm) in January-August from 20.1 bcm a year earlier due tolower output from SOCAR.
Crude oil and condensate production in Azerbaijan fell to41.9 million tonnes last year from 43.1 million in 2013. Naturalgas output was 29.2 bcm in 2014.
Oil production rose to 14.2 million tonnes in the first fourmonths of 2015 from 13.6 million a year earlier.
Output started to decline in May, however, as BP suspendedoperations at one platform in the Caspian Sea, West Azeri, forplanned maintenance on May 21 for 22 days. BP plans to suspendoperations at another platform - Chirag - for plannedmaintenance at the end of October for three weeks. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze;Editing by Susan Thomas)
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