Karamay

name

Etymology: Borrowed from Uyghur قاراماي (qaramay), from قارا (qara, “black”) + ماي (may, “oil”). Alternatively, from қара (qara) + май (mai). Named after the now scenic spot Black Oil Mountain (in Chinese 黑油山) 2 kilometres away from the city centre.

1. A prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang autonomous region, China.

   “On 18 June 1985 I spent three hours birdwatching at an artificial lake near the power station in the Karamay Oilfield in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Peoples^([sic – meaning People's]) Republic of China. The site is approximately 46°N, 85°E, close to the oil town of Karamay and within 300 kms of the border with Kazakhstan in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is a desert region with rocky outcrops, dry ravines, rock and gravel desert plains, and saline flats.”

   “In 1955 a large petroleum field was discovered at Karamay, to the north in the Junggar Basin; it was brought into production in 1958-59 and has since become one of China’s major domestic sources of oil.”