BP says to suspend operations at Caspian Sea platform for maintenance

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BAKU, June 3 (Reuters) - British oil company BP will suspend operations at Chirag, one of its platforms in the Caspian Sea, for planned maintenance in two months, BP-Azerbaijan's head said on Wednesday.

"After the Azeri (platform) we will stop Chirag within two months," Gordon Birrell told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Caspian Oil&Gas 2015 conference in Baku.

BP suspended operations at another platform in the Caspian Sea, West Azeri, for planned maintenance on May 21 for 22 days.

Oil output from the main Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by BP, which account for most of Azerbaijan's output, rose to 8 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2015 from 7.9 million in the same period last year, BP has said.

Daily oil production at the ACG fields rose to an average 661,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 645,800 bpd a year ago.

Azerbaijan said total crude oil and condensate production rose to 14.2 million tonnes in the first four months of 2015 from 13.6 million a year earlier, driven by rising oil output at the ACG fields.

Falling output at the ACG oilfields has been a cause of concern in Baku. Total oil output rose in 2013 for the first time since 2011, but the decline resumed in 2014.

Azerbaijan plans to produce 40.3 million tonnes of oil and 29 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2015. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)