Karamay City
( 2005-09-13 )

Karamay City is located at the northwestern edge of the Junggar Basin, neighboring the eastern slope of the Jaryear Mountain. There are 4 districts and 7 neighborhood agencies and 2 townships under its administration. The city covers an area of more than 9,500 square kilometers, with a total population of over 330,000. There are 38 ethnic minority groups, which account for 22 percent of the population.

The urban area is about 313 kilometers from Urumqi based on highway distance, and 280 kilometers by airline.

Karamay, ("black oil" in the Uygur language) became famous in the 1950s for petroleum production. Oil and natural gas are Karamay's main mineral resources, as the city has big deposits, shallow oil-bearing strata, and superior quality. Therefore, the oil and natural gas can be used to make various kinds of oils for civil aviation and air space, low-temperature diesel, various lubricants, and superior bitumen (tar-like mixture).

In addition, there are mineral deposits of natural bitumen, coal, gypsum, limestone, mirabilite (crystals), crystal, and dinas (a kind of earth), of which the bituminous geological deposit is about 2.5 hundred million tons and limestone, about 4 hundred million tons.

The main wild animals in the area are theMongolian gazelle, wild hare, boar, fox, and wild pheasant.

The surface water resources mainly come from the Poplar and Krasu rivers and Aylik Lake, with an annual average runoff of 1.63 hundred million cubic meters. The total deposit of underground water resources is some 17.2 hundred million cubic meters.

The city has such tourist attractions as the WurheGhostCity, Mt. Black Oil Park, and the No. 1 Well, and so on.