20% oil recovery factor no longer acceptable – SOCAR vice-president

The historically accepted 20% oil recovery factor at Azerbaijan’s mature fields is no longer acceptable amid modern technological advances, SOCAR vice-president Babak Huseynov said.

He noted that the technical base inherited from the Soviet era has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, allowing a much larger share of remaining reserves to be extracted.

“For me, stopping development after recovering only 20% of a field’s reserves is unacceptable,” Huseynov said.

The SOCAR official stressed that the company, together with BP — its largest partner for more than 30 years — is now shifting its focus from greenfield operations to a brownfield mindset, which requires a completely different approach and skill set.

According to him, SOCAR is open to new technical solutions and even to revising existing arrangements that may no longer suit the realities of mature fields.

Huseynov added that one of SOCAR’s priorities is the reassessment and redevelopment of fields previously considered depleted. He cited the Bahar field, where the recovery factor had been below 10% and the site was thought to be “finished”. New studies, however, show the field has significant remaining potential.

He also noted that exploration remains a key area for SOCAR in terms of reserve replacement.

N.Tabrizli