Azerbaijan Has Cut Oil Output

Azerbaijan became the only non-OPEC producer on Wednesday to offer a real output cut to support oil prices, while Russia refrained from making firm commitments despite previous declarations that it would.

Azeri Energy Minister Natik Aliyev told reporters on the sidelines of an OPEC meeting in the Algerian town of Oran the country was ready to cut output by 300,000 barrels per day to 540,000 bpd, which will be its lowest output level in two years.

"We have production capacity of 1 million bpd, but currently output is reduced to 840,000 bpd and we are ready to cut further to 540,000 bpd and sustain this production for several months," Aliyev said.

Most of Azeri oil output is controlled by a BP-led consortium, which reduced production in the past months due to technical problems at an offshore platform in the Caspian Sea.

Author: Ksenia Kochneva