BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 2. Bahar and Gum Deniz fields in Azerbaijan are given a new development stage, SOCAR Vice President Babak Huseynov said at a panel discussion held on the second day of the Baku Energy Week, Trend reports.
According to him, technological developments in the oil and gas industry are changing rapidly, and these changes are ensuring the transition to a new stage of production. Huseynov noted that technologies such as extended-range wells, multilateral completions, artificial intelligence, advanced seismic imaging, and digital reservoir management are widely used in the industry.
The SOCAR official noted that the potential of these technologies has not been fully utilized, especially in mature fields, including the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project. According to him, SOCAR's call to operators was to widely apply horizontal and multilateral wells and accelerate the scale development of ACG.
"The operator accepted this call, and last year, both horizontal and multilateral wells were applied in ACG for the first time. This is a very important step because ACG has a slot limitation, and these types of wells create new opportunities for existing fields by expanding access to the reservoir," he said.
Speaking about the Bahar and Gum Deniz fields, the SOCAR vice president noted that a new stage of development has begun in these areas. According to him, although the Bahar field has been characterized by declining production for many years, this field is currently being given new life, and a completely new development approach is being applied.
He said that new reservoir modeling was carried out in the fields within the framework of cooperation with the SLB company, and the results revealed the great potential of the reserves.
Huseynov added that the development of Baku as an energy and engineering center is also of particular importance. According to him, Baku can become a strategic hub for the region in terms of energy engineering, offshore operations, and technical personnel potential.
The SOCAR official also spoke about the organization's more active integration into international projects. He noted that the company is already participating in various gas and oil projects abroad, which is important both in terms of technology transfer and portfolio diversification.
"The upstream sector is now determined not only by new projects, but also by the intelligent management of existing fields and the application of modern technologies. Future value will come from both new discoveries and the revaluation of existing fields," he emphasized.
Huseynov concluded that Azerbaijan continues to strengthen its position as a reliable strategic partner against the backdrop of global energy security and supply diversification.
