[4] The most distinctive feature of Neft Daşları is that it is actually a functional city with a population of about 2,000 and once comprised over 200 km (120 mi) of streets built on piles of landfill.

[12] Large-scale construction started on the settlement in 1958, which included nine-story hostels, hotels, cultural palaces, bakery factories and lemonade workshops.

[8] The mass development of Neft Daşları continued during 1976–1978 with the building of a five-story dormitory and two oil-gas compressor stations, the installation of a drinking water facility, and the construction of two underwater pipelines to the Dubendi terminal, each with a diameter of 350 millimetres (14 in).

[8] As a result, the area of the settlement grew to around 7 hectares (17 acres) in the 1960s, with the length of the steel trestle bridges joining the man-made islands exceeding 200 kilometres (120 mi),[12] although much has since fallen into the Caspian sea.

[13][14] Over the last 60 years, the oilfields of Neft Daşları have produced more than 170 million tons of oil and 15 billion cubic metres of associated natural gas.

[citation needed] On 4 December 2015, three workers of SOCAR were reported missing after part of the living quarters fell into the sea due to a heavy storm.