BP says Shah Deniz gas field shut indefinitely

BP is the 25 pct owner and operator of Shah Deniz, which is believed to contain 1 trln cubic metres of gas, making it the largest gas discovery ever made by the group.

The 4.5 bln usd Shah Deniz project went on stream last month and is expected to produce 8.6 bln cubic metres of gas per annum.

'It started production in mid-December and was shut down fairly soon after due to technical problems,' a BP spokesman said.

He declined to say how long it will take for BP to repair the fault.

'These are teething problems and they are being fixed,' he added.

Norway's Statoil owns 25 pct of the field, while France's Total, Russia's LukOil and Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR hold 10 pct each. AFX