Shabandag-Shubani-Yasamal valley-Ateshgah field is considered as a single field consisting of separate development areas. The field is included in the main fold system of western Absheron. It starts from the Govundag mountain in the northwestern part of the Absheron peninsula and extends to the southwestern part of the Otman-Bozdag mountain.
The Shabandag area, which is bordered by the Sulutepe fold on the north side, stretches in the north-northwest, south-southeast direction. It connects with Yasamal valley on the south-eastern side and Shubani area on the south-western side. In the southern direction, it connects with the Ateshgah area, which is located between Shubani and Yasamal valleys through a shallow saddle. This fold, which has a large brachyanticlinal structure, has an asymmetric structure and extends in the submeridional direction. The width of the fold is 4 km, and the length is about 12 km.
The Shabandagh area is located in the Shabandagh mountains, 9 km west of Baku, between the Yasamal and Gobu valleys. The accurate geological research of the field was conducted by D.V. Golubyatnikov in 1912 and M.I. Gutman in 1930. The Shabandagh fold is complicated by longitudinal and transverse faults. A part of the fold approaches the Sulutepe field in the north. The field has been in exploitation since 1945. The opening well has an output of 21 tons a day. In general, there was a number of hand-drilled shallow wells in the first decade of the 20th century. 142 wells have been drilled in the Shabandagh field so far.
The Shubany field is located in the territory of the Garadagh region, 7 km north of the Lokbatan settlement, 5 km west of Baku, between the Yasamal and Gobu valleys, 250-280 m above sea level, in the southern end of the Shabandagh mountains. The first hand-drilled well was drilled in Shubany early in the 19th century. Oil extraction from hand-drilled wells was known as far back as 1825. In 1883, the Petroleum Production Company Nobel Brothers build an oil collector point near the Heybat station and an oil pipeline to Binagadi from there. They were buying oil from the owners of Surakhany oil wells and pumping it via this pipeline to the oil refineries in Gara Sheher (the Black City). D.V. Golubyatnikov was the pioneer of Shubany geological research. After his research work conducted in 1900, two main areas in the field, the southern and northern fields, were recommended for development. In a short period, 540 hand drilled tunnel wells appeared in the southern field. In 1913, they began drilling the wells in Shubany using the impact method. A year later, the first oil was produced from a 252 m well in the field owned by Safaraliyev. It was a strong oil gush with one-million-pud (about 16,380 tons) output per day. The Shubany field was in conservation in 1931- 1942.
The Yasamal Valley field is located 5 km west of Baku, in the valley in the western wing of the Ateshgah-Shabandagh mountain chain. The field was first explored in 1912 by D.V. Golubyatnikov. The Yasamal Valley field was discovered in 1932 with an output of 350 tons a day. According to reports, up to the 1st of January 2023, 134 wells have been drilled so far.
The Ateshgah field is located in the lowland of the Lokbatan and Shubany folds. It was discovered in 1949. The first industrial oil was discovered in the 4th, 6th and 8th horizon of the productive layer of the Balakhany reservoirs. In the Ateshgah field 139 wells have been drilled.
The history of industrial development of the Shabandagh-Shubany-Yasamal Valley-Ateshgah field is counted from 1908 (the Shabandagh field). As of the 1st of January 2024, 565 wells have been drilled in the field. Up to this date, about 10.610 thousand tons of oil and 2054.6 thousand m3 of gas have been produced there. The highest production was recorded in 1941 – 640,000 tons of oil, about 6% of the total output in the country. The highest production in the Shubany field was 45,000 tons per year in 1926, in the Ysamal Valley field – 620,000 tons in 1941, in the Shabandagh field – 230,000 tons in 1946, in the Ateshgah field – 90,000 tons.
Currently, the field is operated by the A. Amirov OGPD of SOCAR’s Azneft PU.