The Neftchala field is located in the south-eastern part of the Kura Plain, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The relief of the field is flat, 20-25 m below sea level. There are several mud hills in the area, the largest is the Little Pilpila. Administratively, the field is located in Neftchala district, and it is the first developed oil and gas field in Kura region. Tectonically, the Neftchala fold has a brachianticlinal structure and belongs to the tectonic zone of the Durovdagh, Babazanan and Kurovdagh rises. The fold is of 13 km length and 4 km width. It is complicated by a large number of disorders in different directions.
At the end of the 19th century, oil was extracted from hand-drilled wells in the Neftchala area by primitive methods. In the early 20th century, several exploration wells were drilled in the area. The first exploration well, drilled in 1926, gushed 10 tons of oil per day from a depth of 236 m. Drilling was stopped in 1932-1937 due to the fact that the wells drilled in the following years fell into the wet area. Industrial oil was extracted in 1938, but exploration was suspended until 1944 due to the outbreak of the World War II. After the war, exploration work was carried out in the central and north-western pericline of the field, and although drilling was stopped in the mid-1950s, it was resumed in the early 1970s.
The last oil reserves calculation in the field was carried out in 1985. The light fraction of the oil produced in the Neftchala field is between 19-40%. The maximum production in the Neftchala field was recorded as 202,000 tons in 1954. As of January 1, 2024, 922 wells have been drilled in the field. Since the beginning of the development, the field has produced 7.374 million tons of oil and 863.6 million m3 of associated gas. At present, 192 production wells are operational in the field.
The field is being developed by the Neftechala Operating Company, which is acting as an operator in accordance with the Agreement on the Rehabilitation, Development and Production Sharing for the Block, including the Neftchala, Hilli, Durovdag-Babazanan Oil Fields and South-west Flange of Mughan Monocline in the Republic of Azerbaijan, signed on October 5, 2009, between the Neftechala Operating Company Ltd, SOCAR, Neftchala Investments Limited, and SOCAR Oil Affiliate. The agreement entered into force on October 5, 2009. At present, oil and gas operations are carried out in the Neftchala and Khylly fields. The Contract area is 2,707.7 km² and located in the territory of Neftchala and Salyan regions.