Nariman Mammadovich Ismailov

NREP, WREP and BTC oil pipelines operate on the territory of Azerbaijan. They pose a certain potential environmental threat to natural landscapes in the case of accidental spills of crude oil. In this regard, it is important to zone natural landscapes according to their sensitivity and resistance to crude oil pollution. The zoning is based on the idea of landscape-geochemical biosystems along the routes of oil pipelines that have a certain level of biogeochemical
stability, i.e., self-regulation of biogeochemical processes and «self-purifi cation» from oil hydrocarbons in the event of their contamination, is used. Ecological and economic risks are considered by analyzing the properties of soil types along oil pipelines. The infl uence of climate, which determines the sensitivity and resistance of soils to organic matter pollution, is determined by the indicator of the landscape-ecological index — LEI, and the intensity of self-purifi cation – by the indicator of SEIs, the soil-ecological index. It is proposed to estimate the amount of ecological and economic harm (EEH) from soil pollution in case of accidental spills of crude oil by the index of MPC, soil bonitet and the coeffi cient of soil self-purifi cation. A set of measures to reduce environmental and economic
risks along export oil pipelines that meets the principles and paradigms of “sustainable development” and “green economy” is substantiated and proposed.