Forbidden City Oil Platforms

In 1950, Soviet engineers began building a huge city in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. It was a network of oil platforms, interconnected by hundreds of kilometers of roads. On these islands was built housing for 5,000 workers, with a cinema, parks, sports complexes and other institutions. Gradually, oil reserves have been depleted, and now this place is a half-destroyed nostalgia for the old engineering thought of the Soviet man.
In 1999, part of the James Bond film “And the Whole World Is Not Enough” was filmed on these platforms. But back to the story. This region of Azerbaijan has been known for its rich oil resources since ancient times. “Liquid fire”, for which Constantinople was besieged by the Arabs in the seventh century, consisted mainly of oil, which was collected directly on the shores of the Black and Caspian Sea. Continue reading →