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Contaminated soil remediation


The first oil wells in the world were drilled in Bibiheybet in 1847 and then in Balakhani. The oil production technology and the rapid increase in oil production typical for that period led to intensive oil pollution of the soil in the mining areas located around Baku.

SOCAR announced that it is a socio-ecological obligation to clean up the lands polluted by oil and oil products and under the formation water during the entire historical period of the oil and gas industry.

Based on the Executive Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the approval of the Comprehensive Action Plan for the Improvement of the Environmental Situation in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2006-2010, SOCAR has started to remediate oil contaminated mining areas. In this connection, the company continuously studies international experience, and researches, selects, and applies the most modern recultivation, remediation, rehabilitation, and ecological restoration technologies. As an initial step towards the restoration of polluted lands, complex environmental monitoring was conducted in these areas, polluting substances, sources and characteristics of pollution, spread area, contamination depth, geographical coordinates of the polluted area, and other data was applied and mapped in the Geographical Information System (GIS), and an ecological database was prepared. Within the framework of cooperation with international organisations, by order of SOCAR, Belgian ECOREM S.A. has prepared a Feasibility Study for the remediation of oil and oil products contaminated areas in the Absheron Peninsula.

SOCAR has developed a methodology for the process of bioremediation of contaminated soils and coordinated with ANAS Institute of Soil Science and Agro-chemistry. The available recovery technologies were presented to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and a corresponding opinion was received.

The Company has prepared an ecological-technical document on the restoration of oil-contaminated areas in local areas and assessed the initial situation based on complex monitoring. Depending on the degree of soil contamination, contamination methods and recovery methods are recorded, and the impact of the project on the environment is studied. The prepared document is submitted to the State Environmental Expertise Agency for review.

Oil and oil products contaminated lands, and areas under formation water are regularly recultivated, rehabilitated, and recovered based on the landscape-architectural planning. The degree of soil contamination, the composition of pollutants, and the future purpose of the area also play an important role in the selection of rehabilitation methods.

The bioremediation stage in the recultivated areas is applied in several stages, which includes planting of greenery. Reclamation works are mainly carried out in the areas of oil fields - Sabayil, Surakhani, Sabunchu, Khazar, and Garadagh districts of Baku, as well as in Shirvan city, Salyan, Neftchala, Hajigabul, Imishli, and Siyazan districts. For the 1st of January 2022, 2,819 ha of SOCAR's 4,040 ha of oil contaminated land have been recultivated and restored.

Following the completion of remediation, recultivation, rehabilitation, and ecological restoration, repeated ecological monitoring is carried out as a rule and relevant reports are prepared. Information about the recultivated areas is submitted into the digital GIS ecological database through geographic coordinates, and the existing information is archived.