Azerbaijan.US
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR has developed a strategic roadmap to transfer up to 70% of its stake in the Bahar field development project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
The plan was announced by Bahar Energy Operating Company Limited (BEOC), the operator of the Bahar and Gum Deniz offshore fields.
According to BEOC, both fields are of strategic importance to Azerbaijan’s energy industry. The company noted that as of August 15, 2025, SOCAR acquired 100% ownership of BEOC.
“SOCAR has prepared a strategic roadmap for the partial transfer of a 60–70% stake in the Bahar field and continues efforts to attract investors to the project in the first quarter of 2026,” the statement said.
Earlier, SOCAR Vice President Babek Huseynov said the company plans to open mature oil and gas fields with significant recoverable reserves to investors. He noted that redevelopment using modern technologies could substantially increase recovery rates.
The investment program will primarily focus on the Bahar field, which was discovered in 1969. According to Huseynov, only about 10% of the field’s resources have been developed to date, while remaining reserves are “at least three times larger.” The program may also include the Gum Deniz field, which is infrastructurally linked to Bahar and was discovered in 1955.
To date, approximately 20 million tonnes of oil and 140 billion cubic meters of gas have been produced from the Bahar field. Total production at Gum Deniz has reached around 30 million tonnes of oil and 27 billion cubic meters of gas.
Development of both fields is carried out under a Production Sharing Agreement signed in December 2009 between SOCAR and Bahar Energy Ltd.
The agreement covers exploration, rehabilitation, development, and production sharing for the Bahar offshore block for a period of 25 years, with an option to extend for an additional five years.
