Neft Daşları: Azerbaijan's Soviet City Built Completely Isolated Over The Caspian Sea

40°17'14.49"N 50°43'13.65"E

 (from Brockman Consult) 

   Annecy is the "Venice of the Alps", Saint Petersburg is the "Venice of the North", Fort Lauderdale is the "Venice of America" and so on. Each town with canals has the nickname of Venice, doesn't matter where it is or what it looks like. Today in Weird Wonders, we're going to focus on the lesser-known "Soviet Venice", but which is far more interesting than the others as it is actually just a settlement made for the workers of an offshore oil platform. Welcome to Neft Daşları, the city of oil.

   Once, a man by the name of Alfred Nobel mixed gunpowder and some other chemical substances and, thus, dynamite was created. This would renown his name and enrich his fortune from which he financed the Nobel Prize. Alfred deservedly received a proper acknowledgment, unlike his unheard brother Ludvig Nobel, who would build unnoticed the world's first tanker. Named Zoroaster after an Iranian philosopher, the main characteristic of this innovating vessel was the inclusion of a pipeline network to the steel giant, hence triggering a revolution in maritime history. Now, the Zoroaster would enter into service precisely in the Caspian Sea...

The "Zoroaster" (Wikimedia Commons)

   As you probably know, oil is for the world powers like a bone to the dogs; once they find it, they go straight for it and can't let it go. Exactly this happened to the Soviets. In the first half of the 20th century, the Caspian oil production was increasing rapidly thanks to the innovation of the oil tankers inspired by Nobel's masterpiece, something that subsequently meant cities such as Baku to grow. But the true apex came in the late 1940s, when after hard research, a group of geologists found a big deposit beneath the Caspian Sea which could be reached by a well they were digging on a little island. In 1949, they struck oil, and this was when the government saw a promising development and decided to send more workers and build more infrastructure. The first step was to sink seven deteriorated ships ---from which one of them was the mythical Zoroaster--- and use the wrecks to create a perimeter which would equal to the limits of the initially planned platform. Buildings and wells were attached to the seabed with metal poles and were connected with numerous bridges. That way, Neft Daşları was born.

   Within years, its success turned out to be huge. Therefore, the town doubled and tripled its population, as well as its size. Neft Daşları's initial surface is now the city core, from which dozens of interconnecting trestle bridges originate, conforming a street network of more than 300 kilometers (150 miles). The authorities also added an underwater pipeline and sewing system that linked it to the mainland as well as a drinking water facility. As for the workers, the government placed them inside cramped communist apartments blocks. At least they had some sympathy left, and allowed them social life by building a theater and a tree-lined park made out of soil imported from the mainland and containing a football pitch, which is actually not that bad. Other facilities included a popular bakery, some shops and a hospital.

It looks like a normal neighborhood, doesn't it? (uncropped file from Wikimedia Commons)

   In the 1970s, the city was experiencing its population peak with 5000 people residing in it. But after that, the population decreased and the city didn't grow that much, as oil started to be seen as a highly polluting form of energy. Later, with the independence of Azerbaijan, the company SOCAR took over and still does exploit oil, but in a lower quantity; leading to a clear decline in the future. Even so, it holds the rather peculiar Guinness World Record for the oldest offshore oil platform.

   Anyway, it is very probable that in a future Neft Daşları will just be a forgotten ghost town if it stops extracting this raw material. On the other hand, it could end up flooded such as in 2015, when oil infrastructures and a portion of the living quarters fell into the sea during a powerful thunderstorm, that also burnt a nearby platform. Maybe it isn't that great to be a Venice in the end.

Neft Dashlari's Oil Wells (from Wikimedia Commons)

Sources and Picture Credits:

  

Sources: CNN, Senses Atlas, Illuminem, Wikipedia, Marine Insight

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (Learn more)

Picture 2: https://new.modellmix.su/products/359/index.htm (Unknown author)

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic (Learn More)

Picture 4 https://www.flickr.com/photos/brunogirin/ (Bruno Girin)