British vlogger explores Xinjiang's Heiyoushan

Heiyoushan (Black Oil Mountain) is located in the northeastern part of Karamay City, northwest China’s Xinjiang. It is a natural asphalt hill, formed by the long-term surface seepage of crude oil from the Triassic petroleum outcrop of the Karamay Oilfield. Karamay means "black oil" in the Uygur language, making it the only city in the world named after oil.

Upon arriving at Heiyoushan, Alex John Butler, a British vlogger, was immediately struck by the thick smell of petroleum in the air. He crouched down and dipped his finger into the viscous crude bubbling up from an oil spring. Before coming, he thought Xinjiang was nothing but Gobi desert; now, having witnessed with his own eyes a modern city rising from desolation, he concluded — "seeing is believing, and nothing compares to witnessing it firsthand."

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