Pursuing a passion for science and innovation: Farid’s story

Since his internship at bp, Farid has relished the opportunity to find new solutions to complex industry challenges

Farid has always had a passion for physics, but he ended up graduating from the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. While studying, he joined the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and became involved in the Young Talents Programme. Farid reflects, “this was a game changer for me”. He was invited to be part of the SPE’s research centre where he worked on projects related to petrophysics and developed a love for the discipline for the first time. Later during his master’s degree from IFP School in France, Farid went on to spend two months as a petrophysicist intern at bp, working in the reservoir characterisation team.

During this time, “bp’s style as a company stood out”, Farid explains.

Solving complex challenges 

Since his internship at bp, Farid has relished the opportunity to find new solutions to complex industry challenges.

For a recent project, Farid was able to put his scripting and coding skills to good use on a project focused on the ACG field’s 400 wells. As he explains, “every time we drill a well we take physical measurements and use these measurements to calculate different properties of the reservoir. These numbers are then collated into different spreadsheets and One-pagers.”

Farid developed an automated process that has significantly reduced the time it takes to develop these documents, from hundreds of hours to just a few minutes. These innovations have been the highlight of his career so far, as well as proof of how bp is willing to move into the digital space. “bp has a modernisation and transformation agenda at a global level and we’re encouraged to contribute to this strategy”, he says.

Developing professionally and personally

For Farid, the chance to take ownership of his career path has always been key, and was part of the reason why he decided to join bp’s graduate programme. Since then, “bp has been great at giving challenges and responsibility to employees at all levels, which helps to drive constant development”, Farid observes. “bp really invests in its people”.

Having this freedom has given Farid opportunities to pursue new ideas and interests, in particular, the data science skills he developed as a hobby whilst at university. “bp has been great at giving me a platform to enhance my coding and scripting skills, and apply this to my work in petrophysics”, he says. What’s more, Farid has been able to pass this knowledge on to others, recently organising training sessions for his colleagues, focused on the basics of Python programming language in Techlog software.

On a personal level, Farid also feels very grateful to have had access to a mentor at bp, who has helped guide him through the early stages of his career.