A piece of the bigger puzzle: Sabina’s story

Growing up in Azerbaijan, Sabina remembers always being fascinated by oil and gas reserves and their importance for her country’s economic development. Combined with her passion for tackling complex technical challenges, this made her a natural fit for the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering. 

It was during this period that Sabina first joined bp through a summer internship:

"Not only did this experience confirm that I had made the right choice in specialising in petroleum engineering, but it also strengthened my desire to pursue a career in this field at bp.”

Improving reservoir performance

After graduating, Sabina returned to bp as a Challenge Reservoir Engineer, where today she supports with reservoir and production management, as well as depletion and well-planning activities. Her main responsibility is supporting the delivery of production targets through water injection management in the field. By injecting water into the reservoir, the aim is to optimise oil recovery – typically by increasing pressure to stimulate production.

Sabina loves analysing surveillance data in order to gain an understanding of the reservoir and provide recommendations on how to improve its performance. In fact, she developed a process to manage water injection, which was awarded second place at Technofest, the global internal competition among bp Challengers.  

“Water injection management is a standard part of reservoir development, but what made my project innovative is the fact that we set up a new, singular process that can be followed for all water injection patterns to optimise injection and maximise recovery across the field. I felt so proud to be bringing value to bp in this way,” she explains. 

A culture that supports personal development 

Throughout her internship, Sabina was truly impressed by bp’s culture:

Now, during the pandemic, Sabina is even more grateful to be working for such a supportive company: “COVID-19 has undoubtedly been the greatest challenge of my career, and it’s required a lot of adaptation and resilience on my side. But management has been extremely supportive throughout – helping us stay focused and motivated.” 

In fact, since joining, Sabina has been amazed by the attention bp pays to the health and wellbeing of its employees. She describes a culture where work-life balance is valued and encouraged: “This is really important as it directly improves people’s performance and productivity,” Sabina explains.  

Having an impact

Sabina feels inspired knowing that she’s working for a company with an impact: not only does bp provide energy solutions to the world, but it’s also driving the economic development of her country. She is also proud to be contributing to bp’s impact: