Azerbaijan cuts oil production in first 11 months, gas output grows

Oil output fell to 38.4 million tons (857,000 barrels a day) from 39.5 million tons a year earlier, the committee said in a statement on its website.

Production of marketable natural gas grew to 17 billion cubic meters from 16.2 billion cubic meters.

The decline in oil production was prompted by a monthlong closure on Oct. 31 of the Central Azeri platform in the Caspian Sea by BP for planned maintenance.

The platform, which produced on average 169,600 barrels a day in the first nine months, was reopened on November 27.

Azerbaijan, the third largest oil producer in the former Soviet Union, has seen its crude production decline since 2010, when the country pumped a record 51 million tons of oil.

The Caspian Sea nation pumped 43 million tons last year.