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45 km offshore on the Caspain Sea, Oil Rocks is unique in the world, a pearl of Soviet ambition built in several phases after 1947.
Oil Rocks is a full town on the sea: it has 200 km of streets built on piles and landfill, counting with a population of over 5,000 men (families stay on shore!). Most of the inhabitants work on shifts - a week on Oil Rocks a week on shore. There are tall blocks of flats, a bakery, a cinema, a garden, a school.
The facility is poorly maintained, with miles of roads now submerged beneath the sea. Around some worker's dormitories, the waterline now stands at the second-floor windows. Although a full one-third of the Oil Rocks complex’s 600 wells is inoperative or inaccessible, operations have continued without a significant increase in investment.
coordinates : 40°15'18.00"N 50°50'00.29"E
google map
pictures sources :
Stanley Greene
Bruno Girin
text source :
travel-images
I have been there a couple of years ago. lakes of crude oil, absolutely amazing and scary at the same time.