BP has called for patience over the prospects of developing deep natural gas reservoirs at Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) fields in the Caspian Sea, after the country’s President Ilham Aliyev said he expected production to start by the end of next year.

Azerbaijan is aiming to increase its natural gas exports to Europe as the continent continues its search to replace Russian supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early last year.

Speaking at an industry conference in Baku last week, Aliyev said that authorities expect the UK supermajor to start producing natural gas from the previously untapped reservoirs, located below its existing licence area, by the end of 2024.