Baku is the oil capital of the world

We live in an era of an active phase of scientific and technological progress, which would be unthinkable without high energy resources. The whole world is now standing on a single “whale”… only one word defines the modern development of the planet and this word is “electricity”. The main energy basis for electricity generation is oil. And the main source of income of Azerbaijan was and remains the oil and gas industry.

The whole earth under our feet is still literally saturated with hydrocarbons – oil itself seeps through the soil to the surface, oil pumps are working all over Absheron. We are mining what the entire modern civilization is based on.

Antiquity

The history of oil production in our country is more than an impressive age. According to the hypotheses of historians and archaeologists, this mineral was mined on Absheron Peninsula 5,000 years ago. And it was not only extracted, but also exported.

The remains of ancient megalithic structures have been discovered in several Baku suburbs near the sea. These artefacts-roads made of smooth stone slabs with parallel grooves for the wheels of heavy wagons knocked out in them are called the Absheron stone track. Radio-carbon analysis showed that the age of the track is older than the age of the Derbent Fortress (5000 years).

For a long time, scientists were lost in guesses about the purpose of these ancient roads that lead from the center of peninsula to the shores of Caspian Sea. Main version was the transportation of salt and fish. However, the power and solidity of the structure clearly indicates that something more impressive was transported along it.

There is a special type of clay sandstone on Absheron and the adjacent Gobustan desert – hollow rocks formed as a result of mud volcanic activity. Due to the internal emptiness, you can play on these rocks as if on a drum – they produce a rather sonorous sound. They are called “Gaval Dash” (translated as “Tambourine Stone” or “Singing Stone”). In addition, they are quite light.

These rocks seem to have been created specifically for making cisterns out of them. It is enough just to hollow out the thin walls between the internal cavities, put such a stone on strong wheels and let them go by means of a bull team along a stone track. Such stone trolleys could easily transport a huge amount of oil from the depths of the peninsula directly to the ships. And the oil at that time was right on the surface of the earth in numerous oil lakes. And this oil was special-White Oil.

The first oil boom

White Oil-transparent, the purest of all grades of oil ever produced on earth by the XIX century. It was preserved on the territory of the only field in the Baku village of Surakhany. It was White Oil that attracted the attention of the European companies Rothschild and the Nobels. In the middle of XIX-th century they invested a lot of capital in these lands, many specialists came from Europe and Russian Empire, and an oil boom began here.

At that time, onshore oil fields began to be developed. The white oil extracted from open oil lakes and shallow wells soon ran out, the wells became deeper. For the first time on earth, oil rigs were used to create them. The first one was erected in 1846.

The USSR period

The XX-th century logically continued what was started in the previous one. The most important oil and gas university in the Soviet Union was opened, whose graduates played an important role in all the oil fields of the world. Offshore oil shelves began to be developed In 1949, the largest oil platform on the planet was built – the city of Oil Stones. For the first time, sea tankers were involved in oil transportation. For the first time, the method of drilling with a rotor was used (before that, only percussion was used everywhere in the world).

These innovations have become the property of the world oil industry and now it is simply impossible to imagine it without them.

At the end of XX-th century Azerbaijan Republic has signed the so-called “Contract of the Century” with the world’s leading oil companies. Within its framework, the development of deep-sea oil and gas deposits has begun.

At the moment, Azerbaijani oil brand “Azeri Light” is considered the most valuable in the world. It is the easiest to process it into gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel, and for this, the most expensive price is set for it on the world markets.

In addition, it is worth noting that the largest gas contract of British Petroleum is the Azerbaijani contract for the development of our Shah Deniz field.

Taking into account all the above, Baku can be called the world oil capital and it deserves this title without exaggeration.

Tags: Baku , Azerbaijan , Caspian Sea , Oil , Absheron Peninsula , USSR , Absheron , Gaval Dash , White oil , The first oil boom , Contract of Century , British Petroleum , Shah Deniz field , Azeri light