Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Areas, where volcanoes have been observed, always have oil and gas reserves.

Head of the Geology Institute Mud Volcanoes Department, Prof. Adil Aliyev told Trend noting that detailed data can be received only after studying these volcanoes.

Aliyev said that they are conducting researches on this issue, adding that oil and gas are produced in Azerbaijan in areas where there are mud volcanoes.

“Where there is a volcano, there are reserves, as well. The majority of reserves discovered in Azerbaijan are related to the mud volcanoes,” he said.

“We study this process and determine how oil and gas reserves formed. We study the rock samples after the volcano eruption in laboratories and determine where we can find oil and gas reserves,” he said.

Azerbaijan is a world leader, not only for the number but also for the activity of its volcanoes. Roughly 350 out of over 1000 mud volcanoes in the world are located here. Azerbaijan's mud volcanoes definitely should be part of any tourist's itinerary. Most are located on Absheron, around Baku. There are 100 near the Gobustan Reserve alone. There are another 200 on the islands of the Baku archipelago and in Shamakhi and Shirvan regions, two hours’ drive from Baku.

Mud volcanoes are one of the visible signs of the presence of oil and gas reserves hidden deep beneath land and sea in the Caspian region. Azerbaijan's rich fields of oil and gas condensate such as Lokbatan, Garadagh, Oil Rocks, and Mishovdag were discovered near mud volcanoes.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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