Azerbaijan raises Jan-Oct gas output by 1.0 pct

BAKU, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan increased its gas output in the first 10 months of 2009 by 1.0 percent, year-on-year, to 19.3 billion cubic metres (bcm), the State Statistics Committee said on Tuesday.

The committee said 8.2 bcm out of the total production was associated gas produced by BP-led (BP.L) group AIOC at the Chirag, Azeri and Guneshli oilfields in the Caspian Sea.

The rest was produced by the same consortium and the Azeri state energy firm SOCAR at Shakh Deniz deposit.

The Shakh Deniz deposit is co-led by BP and StatoilHydro (STL.OL). SOCAR, Russia's LUKOIL (LKOH.MM), France's Total (TOTF.PA). Iranian and Turkish firms are also partners in the developing the deposit.

Problems at Shakh Deniz deposit, where one out of five wells was closed earlier this year, led to a revision of the gas production forecast there in 2009 to 7.2-7.5 bcm from the previous forecast of 9.0 bcm.

Total production this year should reach 25-27 bcm, the government forecasts, up from 22.8 bcm produced in 2008.

Azerbaijan hosts some of the world's biggest oil and gas developments. It sells output to the domestic market, neighbouring Georgia and Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pipeline. (Reporting by Lada Yevgrashina, writing by Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Editing by Angus MacSwan)