TBILISI, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Output from Azerbaijan's crucialAzeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oilfields has stabilised this yearnear average 2012 levels, with first-half output of 672,000barrels a day up from 662,000 in the first quarter, officialfigures confirmed this week.
A drop in production at the ACG fields, which account formost of Azerbaijan's output, had previously raised concerns inthe former Soviet republic, which depends heavily on them forrevenue. Earlier this year, President Ilham Aliyev accusedoperator BP of making "false promises"..
BP's output at ACG fell to 32.9 million tonnes in 2012, from35.4 million tonnes in 2011, but BP and its partner state energyfirm SOCAR have been saying for much of this year thatproduction has stabilised.
This week they said ACG's output for the first half was down2.4 percent on a year ago at 16.4 million tonnes inJanuary-June, in line with the consortium's May predictions thattotal output will be 33 million tonnes this year.
In gas, the British oil major reported higher output fromthe Shah Deniz field, Azerbaijan's biggest.
Azerbaijan has said its total oil production in the firsthalf of 2013 was 21.8 million tonnes, down 1.8 percent year onyear.
GAS OUTPUT UP
Natural gas output at Shah Deniz rose to 4.8 billion cubicmetres (bcm) in the first half of 2013 from 3.4 bcm in the sameperiod last year.
Shah Deniz is being developed by partners BP, Statoil, SOCAR, Total and others.
It is estimated to contain 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas,and Khoshbakht Yusifzade, SOCAR's first vice president, toldreporters earlier this year its reserves could reach at least1.5 tcm based on recent calculations.
Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006, while gas fromits second stage is expected to reach Europe by 2019.
Overall gas production in Azerbaijan rose 1.1 percent to 8.9bcm in January-June 2013.
SOCAR expects production to rise to 28-29 bcm this year from26.8 bcm in 2012.
The country ships its oil via five main routes: Russia'sBlack Sea port of Novorossiisk, neighbouring Georgia's Supsa,Batumi and Kulevi ports, and Turkey's Ceyhan.
It sells gas to the domestic market and to Georgia andTurkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline as well as toRussia.
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