The Gum Deniz Oil Field

The Gum Deniz Oil Field is located south of the Absheron peninsula, 21 km south of Baku, between Gum Island and the Bahar Gas Field. The Gum Deniz Oil Field extends from onshore Gum Island, which is 2.5 km from the mainland to the south in the Caspian Sea. The Gum Deniz Oil Field is found along the Fatmai–Gum Adasi anticlinal trend which includes the Bahar and Shakh Deniz structures. Oil in the Gum Deniz Oil Field is trapped in a north-south trending structure that is approximately 16 kilometres in length and 3 kilometres in width. The Gum Deniz Oil Field is structurally up-dip from the Bahar Gas Field. The fields are separated by a structural saddle. The Gum Deniz Oil Field has been on production since 1955 with cumulative production to year end 2017 of 212 MMbbls.

The Gum Deniz Oil Field begins on a sand island approximately 2.5 kilometres offshore and extends to the south into the Caspian Sea, where it was developed from approximately 109 drilling and production platforms, most of which were connected to a steel causeway network of approximately 16.8 kilometres long. Parts of the causeway and many of the platforms are no longer in operation nor accessible.  The causeway allows personnel and small packages of production, drilling and workover equipment to be moved via small motorised vehicles to the production platforms, significantly reducing the need for frequent marine support.  Oil, water and gas are delivered via pipelines along the causeway to a main collector line which carries all produced fluid to onshore treatment facilities.

There are currently 24 wells producing of the 155 retained oil wells by BEOC.  Most of the producing wells are currently on gas-lift using compressed gas from the onshore gas compression facilities.  The other wells are produced using electrical subsurface pumps.

During the period of the ERDPSA, BEOC has performed significant refurbishment work on the Bahar Gas Field and Gum Deniz Oil Field platforms and facilities to render them serviceable and safe.  This has allowed for more workovers and recompletions to be undertaken.