Why A Soviet-Era Oil Rig City Is Floating On Earth's Largest Lake

Deep in the Caspian Sea, around 100 kilometres off the coast of Azerbaijan's capital Baku, lies Neft Daslari, the world's oldest offshore oil platform. Also known as “Oil Rocks”, this vast, rusting city has been shrouded in mystery for decades.

“The degree of mystery was enormously high,” filmmaker Marc Wolfensberger, who first discovered Neft Daslari in the late 1990s, told CNN. “It was beyond anything I had seen before.”

Constructed in the late 1940s during the Soviet era, Neft Daslari began as a lone drilling rig on a tiny island and has since grown into an extensive network of oil wells, production sites, and over 100 miles of bridges. At its peak, this floating city housed more than 5,000 inhabitants and produced millions of tonnes of oil. Today, fewer than 3,000 workers remain, working 15-day rotations amid an environment slowly being reclaimed by the sea.

Neft Daslari has long faced environmental issues, with concerns over pollution and oil spills in the Caspian. Mirvari Gahramanli, head of the Oil-Workers Rights Protection Organisation, has raised alarm over untreated wastewater and reports of oil discharge. 

SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state-run oil company, pledged to take action, saying in a 2019 post that it would “take appropriate administrative measures on employees who pollute the environment.” Still, environmental advocates remain worried about the platform's long-term impact.

As production dwindles, so does Neft Daslari's significance in Azerbaijan's oil industry, with output now down to under 3,000 tonnes per day. With COP29 around the corner, where global leaders will discuss climate initiatives, Neft Daslari is an obvious symbol of the fossil fuel industry's environmental costs.

Mr Wolfensberger believes the city could have a future beyond oil. “It's really the cradle of offshore oil exploration,” he said. Many, including energy experts, see potential in converting Neft Dasları into a tourist destination or even a museum, honouring its legacy. For now, however, the rusting platform continues its slow decline.