BAKU, Azerbaijan--There is no threat to Western companies
working in Azerbaijan, the country's industry and energy minister
said Monday, after President Ilham Aliyev last week sharply
criticized a consortium led by BP PLC (BP) for declines in oil
output.
"There is no threat to the activity of foreign companies in
Azerbaijan," Natiq Aliyev said on the sidelines of the 6th Caspian
Oil and Gas Trading and Transportation conference.
The minister repeated criticisms made by the president on
Wednesday that output at the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli
field wasn't in line with projections.
"If the results for production volumes turn out to be much lower
than those planned by the partners, that demonstrates that there
are problems," the minister said. He said the consortium should
analyze why output wasn't meeting forecasts.
BP last week said it remained committed to Azerbaijan and was
working to address production issues at the ACG field.
BP is the operator of the ACG project as part of a consortium
that also includes Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, Chevron
Corp. (CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Norway's Statoil ASA (STO)
and Japan's Inpex Corp. (1605.TO) and Itochu Corp. (8001.TO).
-- James Marson in Moscow contributed to this item.
Write to Aida Sultanova and James Marson at
james.marson@dowjones.com
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