About 75 000 barrels of oil per day were produced from the Azeri-Chirag field in the Caspian last week - twice the planned volume.Tor Ivar Pedersen, Statoil’s manager in Azerbaijan, also reports that production is likely to increase to roughly 100 000 barrels per day before the end of the year.
Oil currently flows from five wells, with another three-five due to be brought on stream during the rest of 1998. The good production performance reflects faster progress with drilling than expected and a 50-100 per cent higher rate of flow from the wells.
Statoil has an 8.56 per cent interest in the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), which operates the field.