The Gala (Old Gala) oil field is located in the eastern part of the Absheron Peninsula between the villages of Bina, Mardakan and Gala. Structurally, the field is stretched from the north-west to the south-west. The first exploration work on the Gala field was carried out in 1887 by researchers Sorokin and Simyonovich. They were followed by Shegren (1891) and Golubyatnikov. Drilling in the field began in 1904. In 1904-1917, 3 wells were drilled by The Nobels, 5 wells by Beckendorf, and one exploration well in the “Gala lake” area by the Caspian-Black Sea Society. Thus, positive results were obtained from 9 wells drilled in the productive layer. The specific gravity of the oil was 0.750-0.800 g/cm3. The work carried out so far constituted the first stage of exploration.
The second stage of exploration dates back to 1924. In the same year, Golubyatnikov considered the Gala field to be the first in terms of oil content compared to the Surakhany field. At his suggestion, wells were drilled in the area with gas outlets. By 1929, 9 wells had been drilled in the Gala field. 4 of them hit a gas gusher, and one - well No. 13 - supplied gas of industrial significance at a higher flow rate with greater pressure.
Industrial oil was extracted from the field in 1932. In the same year, an oil horizon was discovered at well No. 20 at a depth of 705-740 m. This was the first well gushing 400-500 tons of oil per day in the Gala field. In the next well, which was put into operation in 1933, 10 oil horizons were discovered. Thus, the oil content of the Gala field was confirmed, and exploitation work began there.
The area of the field is 864 ha (7.5 km x 3.5 km), and its structure is brachianticlinal. The maximum production on the field was recorded in 1938 - 4.4 million tons.
From the beginning of development to January 1, 2024, 1,518 wells were drilled in the field, of which 67 wells are currently operational. 58.469 million tons of oil and 9.713 bcm of gas were extracted from the field. Currently, the field is in the final fourth stage of development.
On December 14, 2021, Risk Service Agreement related to the Rehabilitation and Development of the Block including the Buzovna-Mashtaga, Gala and Zyria Oil Fileds in the Republic of Azerbaijan was signed between SOCAR and GL International LTD LLC. On April 5, 2022, the Agreement was ratified by Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. From the effective date of July 01, 2022, of the Agreement, Taghiyev OGPD of SOCAR’s Azneft PU carrying out field development was liquidated, and the Gala field is currently operated by the Taghiyev Operating Company LLC established under the Agreement.