Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15 – Azerbaijan has reduced its oil production by 80% as oil transport has been suspended via its export pipelines, Baku-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), according to local media.
The daily Yeni Musavat said the country is currently exporting 300,000 b/d of oil instead of the usual 900,000 b/d.
Azerbaijan is losing $50-70 million/day from the shutdown of the BTC line, the paper said. It predicted that Azerbaijan will lose more than $1 billion in revenues, assuming the line is repaired by Aug. 27.
In the meantime, the paper said, Azerbaijan and international oil companies have incurred damage worth $500 million as a result of suspending exports through the Baku-Supsa line and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas line due to the conflict between Russia and Georgia.
However, director of Azerbaijan's Oil Research Center Ilham Saban said losses by the government and oil companies had been mitigated by exports of oil via the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline.
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