BP works to restore operations at Shah Deniz platform, Azerbaijan

BP is working to resolve technical problems at the Shah Deniz Alfa (SDA) platform which affected Azerbaijan's supply of gas to Bulgaria and hopes to resume normal operations as soon as possible, the company told Reuters on Monday.

BP halted operations on the platform on Friday after detecting a technical issue on the subsea gas condensate export line between the platform and the Sangachal terminal.

Azerbaijan notified Bulgarian state gas company Bulgargaz EAD that it had suspended contracted gas supply on January 7.

Bulgargaz expects supply to resume on January 15, the company told Bulgaria's BTA news agency on Monday.

Bulgargaz has sourced replacement volumes from Turkey's Botas, it said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also said on Friday that gas flows from Azerbaijan to Serbia were halted and that it was unclear when they would resume.

On Sunday however, Vucic said that Baku had informed him that gas supplies will not be halted for Serbia.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)