UPDATE 1-SOCAR, BP agree to stabilise Azeri oilfields output

* SOCAR chief sure of stable oil output at ACG oilfields * Azeri president accused BP of false promises over output * SOCAR expects oil production of 33 mln tonnes in 2012-2013 By Lada Evgrashina BAKU, Dec 18 (Reuters) - British oil major BP andAzeri state energy company SOCAR agreed to cooperate instabilising 2013 production at the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli(ACG) oilfields, the biggest in Azerbaijan and one of BP'slargest global projects. "We have agreed on a programme for 2013 and approved it as astabilisation programme," Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCARpresident, told reporters after meeting with BP Chief ExecutiveBob Dudley. "I'm sure we will manage to secure stable oil production atthe Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli oilfields," he said. Dudley visited Azerbaijan on Tuesday, two months after AzeriPresident Ilham Aliyev accused the British major of making"false promises". Falling output at the fields has raised concerns in theex-Soviet republic about its budget, given that revenues arelinked to oil and gas exports. The ACG oilfields were expected to produce over 1 millionbarrels per day (bpd) after a third phase was completed in 2008.Production reached 823,000 bpd in 2010 but has fallen sincethen. It averaged 684,000 bpd in the first half of 2012. "A major work had been done at the Azeri, Chirag, Guneshlioilfields after the (Azeri) president's statement ... Technicalgroups started working, and we got a good cooperation between BPand SOCAR," Abdullayev said. The head of SOCAR said in October it was working with BP ona plan to keep output roughly flat through the end of the decadeand was not looking at a change of operator. It has said it expects production of 33 million tonnes(around 678,000 bpd) this year and in 2013. Azerbaijan said in October BP had promised to sack staffresponsible for the output shortfall. BP later made managerialchanges in its Azeri office, which it said were not related toPresident Ilham Aliyev's criticism. Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Statoil also have stakes in the consortium.