16-12-02 BP plans to invest a total of $ 4.3 bn in its Azeri projects next year, President of BP-Azerbaijan David Woodward told. Woodward said that investment in the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore oil area in the Caspian Sea shelf has been increased to $ 2.052 bn from $ 1.172 bn.
He said that the increase was a reflection of the higher number of wells it is planned to drill at the Chirag field next year. Chirag is the only field within the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli area that is currently being developed.

Construction of the $ 2.95-bn Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, designed to carry oil from the area, is also scheduled to start in the first quarter of next year, Woodward said.
The pipeline’s shareholder composition is as follows: BP controls 30.1 % of the project, SOCAR has 25 %, Norway’s Statoil 8.71 %, US-based Unocal 8.9 %, Turkey’s TPAO 6.53 %, Italy’s Agip and France’s TotalFinaElf each hold 5 %, Japan’s Itochu and Inpex hold 3.4 % and 2.5 %, Conoco-Philips of the US has 2.5% and US-Saudi Delta Hess owns 2.36 %.

BP is also the operator of another major project in Azerbaijan, the development of the Shakh-Deniz offshore gas field, in which the company plans to invest $ 700-$ 800 mm next year.
The project also includes the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline from Baku to the Turkish city of Erzurum.