The first oil well in the world is in Baku, in the Bibi-Heybat area. It was the first oil well drilled with a machine. Engineer Vasily Semyonov finished it in 1846. The well is 21 meters deep. Today it is restored, and our tours stop there.

This well is more than ten years older than Edwin Drake’s well in Pennsylvania (1859). Industrial oil production in Baku began with this well.

What you see on the tour

  • The first oil well in Baku. You see the restored well in Bibi-Heybat. The guide tells you who drilled it and why it is important for the history of oil in the world.
  • Oil derricks in Baku. On the road to Gobustan, near Bibi-Heybat, you see oil derricks from the bus window. There is no separate stop at the derricks.
  • A James Bond film location. Near Bibi-Heybat, among the derricks, the film The World Is Not Enough has a scene with a BMW Z3.
  • Ateshgah and Yanardag. In some tours, the route goes on to the Absheron Peninsula, to the Fire Temple and the Burning Mountain. Natural gas comes out of the ground there and burns. This is why Azerbaijan is called the “Land of Fire.”

Why oil made Baku famous

When industrial oil production began in Bibi-Heybat, businessmen and engineers came to Baku from all over the world. Among them were the Nobel and Rothschild families. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Baku produced about half of the world’s oil. Many beautiful houses in the city center were built with oil money.

What else is in the route

After Bibi-Heybat, the tours go to Gobustan. There you see petroglyphs from the UNESCO list, the reserve museum and mud volcanoes.

Tours that include the first oil well

The well is part of our tours in Azerbaijan to Gobustan and Absheron. These are Azerbaijan tours that combine oil heritage, rock art and mud volcanoes in one trip.