--- title: "COP29 Climate Summit Being Held in Petrostate Where People Bathe Their Nude Bodies in Crude Oil" description: "While attending the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan, a reporter decided to engage in the local custom of bathing his entire body in oil." date: "2024-11-22" modified: "2024-11-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-summit-bathing-crude-oil" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "azerbaijan" - "climate" - "oil" - "the digest" --- # COP29 Climate Summit Being Held in Petrostate Where People Bathe Their Nude Bodies in Crude Oil ![While attending the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan, a reporter decided to engage in the local custom of bathing his entire body in oil.]() *GANJA, AZERBAIJAN - SEPTEMBER 13: A man bathes in a bath full of heavy oil containing 50% naphthalene, a hydrocarbon allegedly used to treat psoriasis, rheumatism and artritis at the Chinar Hotel on September 13, 2012 in Naftalan, near the city of Ganja, in Azerbaijan. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) \Image: Denis Doyle/Getty Images\* ## Fossil Fools While attending the United Nations' [COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan](), a *New York Times* reporter decided to engage in a time-honored local custom of bathing his entire nude body in crude oil. As the [newspaper reports](), the same oil that fueled the Soviet victory over the Nazis had led the Eastern European country to petrostate status — though its reserves differ from those in the rest of the world, because it doesn't burn the skin and has alleged healing properties. As *NYT* Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski notes in its account of his ordeal, [local scientists]() and historical explorers have touted the [benefits of oil from its Naftalan region]() for thousands of years, saying it can help heal wounds and ease aches and pains. "Near the Georgian border there is a spring from which gushes a stream of oil in such abundance that a hundred ships may load here at once," [Marco Polo wrote in the 13th century](). "This oil is not good to eat, but it is good for burning and as a salve for men and camels affected with itch or scab." ## Oil Wellness To see about this salve-like nature, Troianovski traveled four hours away from Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku during the UN's COP29 summit to Naftalan, now a resort town with [dozens of oil spas](). "\[The oil\] crept into every crevice of my submerged body and every fold of my skin," he wrote. "It smothered the hair on my limbs, making me look a little like an animal stuck in an oil spill." When in the bath, Troianovski realized that instead of the heavy stickiness he expected, the oil was actually quite slippery. It was, he wrote, an "otherworldly" or even "netherworldly" sensation that the writer was given exactly 10 minutes to ponder before being instructed to stand up with the help of a wall handle. "Then," Troianovski wrote, "came an attendant to scrape it all off." Using a long shoehorn, the attendant scraped the substance off of Troianovski then patted him down with "oversized paper towels" before giving him a washcloth to handle his own nether regions. To "process the experience" back at the UN climate conference, the *NYT* bureau chief decided to go to the site of the world's [first-ever industrial oil well](). Located today in the parking lot of a swimming pool in Baku, the rig continues to pump out the same [harmful](), [finite](), and [uber-profitable]() substance Troianovski had just been bathing in on the other side of Azerbaijan. "Take it out, sell it," an oil rig worker named Khalid told him. "It’s like God sent this to us." **More on petrostates and climate change:** [*Secret Video Shows Top Climate Change Conference Official Promising to Facilitate Fossil Fuel Deals*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()