The Gum (sand)-Deniz oil field is located 21 km south-east of Baku, in the land/sea transition zone, in Baku Bay. The area of the field, which runs parallel to the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea, is 144 km2. Tectonically, the depth of the sea varies from 1 m to 15 m in the boundaries of the fold, which is a southward extension of the “Fatmayi-Kurdakhany-Surakhany-Zykh” anticline zone. The asymmetrical fold is of 15 km length and 6 km width. The Gum-Deniz and Bahar fields follow the same structural trend but are separated by a lower saddle point.
The first exploration well No. 5 on the field of Gum-Deniz was drilled by the famous drilling worker Agha Nematullah in 1952. During the tests, the well produced 250,000 m3 of gas and 50 tons of oil per day from a depth of 3,470 m. After this event, an oil and gas department was established to conduct production and drilling in the Gum-Deniz field, and in 1958, an artificial dam was built connecting the island of Gum to the coast. The field has been in operation since 1955, covering horizons at depths of 2,000-3,600 m. Initially, drilling was carried out in separate foundations, but later these foundations were connected to each other by a trestle. From the beginning of operation to January 1, 2024, in total 499 wells were drilled in the field. During this period, the field produced approximately 29.6 million tons of oil and 27.5 bcm of gas (associated and non-associated gas). The maximum oil production in the field was recorded in 1965 with a figure of 2.144 million tons. At present, there are 45 wells in the production well stock, 26 of which are in operation.
The Gum-Deniz field is operated by the Bahar Energy Operating Company. The related Production Sharing Agreement was signed between SOCAR, Bahar Energy Ltd and SOCAR Oil Affiliate (SOA) on December 22, 2009. The agreement was ratified by Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 27, 2010, and entered into force on October 1, 2010.