BP restarts problem well at Shakh-Deniz gas field

BP had to halt output at the $4 billion project twice after its launch in December due to high pressure at the first producing well.

Its partner in the project, Azeri state firm Socar, has said the field would produce around 3 bcm in 2007 instead of the planned 5 bcm due to problems.

The setbacks have dashed the hopes of Georgia and Turkey to buy more Azeri gas this year and cut reliance on Russia.

Shakh-Deniz resumed production after the second well was launched in February.

"We have repaired Shakh-Deniz's first well, which was drilled in December and had problems with pressure," said Bill Schrader, the head of BP in Azerbaijan. He said total output from the two wells now amounted to 5.2 million cubic metres a day.

BP and the field's other operator, Norway's Statoil, plan to export gas from Shakh-Deniz to Turkey via Georgia along the $1 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipeline.

Schrader said the third well, initially planned to be launched in March, would start in the next two weeks, while the fourth was expected in the third quarter.

Shakh-Deniz's shareholders also include Russia's LUKOIL, France's Total and Iranian and Turkish state oil firms. Reuters