UPDATE: BTC Oil Exports Delayed By Azeri Field Shutdown

(Adds detail on gas leak.)

LONDON --Crude oil loadings in Turkey from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline in October will be delayed because of the partial shutdown of a large oil field in Azerbaijan, a European crude oil trader told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

Azeri crude oil cargoes scheduled to load during the first 10 days of October are set to be delayed by seven days, the trader said.

A BP (BP) spokesman declined to comment on the loading schedules at Ceyhan. BTC oil throughput has been affected by the partial shutdown of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field, but there has been no declaration of force majeure, he said.

Two platforms on the ACG field were shutdown last week, cutting output from 850,000 barrels of oil a day to 350,000 barrels a day. All personnel were evacuated from the West Azeri platform last week when a gas leak was detected nearby. The Central Azeri platform was subsequently evacuated as a precaution.

BP has performed flyovers of the platform and sent a diver support vessel to the area to try and work out the source of the gas release, but both platforms remain shut down, the BP spokesman said.

BP is the operator of the ACG field with a 34.1% stake. Other shareholders include Chevron Corp. (CVX) with 10.2%, SOCAR with 10%, INPEX with 10%, StatoilHydro ASA (STO) with 8.6% and Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) with 8%.

Company Web site: http://www.bp.com

-By Lananh Nguyen and James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com