A BP PLC-led consortium has again halted production of natural gas at a giant Caspian Sea field off the coast of Azerbaijan because of unspecified technical problems, BP said Tuesday.

Gas from the Shah Deniz field – one of Azerbaijan's largest – has been keenly awaited by both Azerbaijan and neighboring Georgia, both of which have been affected by Russia's decision to increase prices sharply last year.

The operators had already stopped output at the field a week after starting commercial production in December, and only brought it back onstream a month later on Jan. 14.

The decision to cease production again was taken after checks on the effectiveness of that maintenance work, said a spokeswoman for BP's Azerbaijani subsidiary, Tamam Bayatli.

The Dec. 15 halt in production forced Georgia to sign stopgap gas supply deals with Moscow at what it considers to be extortionate prices.

The BP-led consortium, which also includes Norway's Statoil, France's Total, Russia's Lukoil and other companies, has said it plans to produce at least 5.4 billion cubic meters of gas from Shah Deniz this year, with about 2.4 billion cubic meters earmarked for domestic consumption, 2.8 billion cubic meters for export to Turkey, and 270 million cubic meters for export to Georgia.