Ballsh ( sq-definite, Ballshi) is a town and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Fier County Fier County (; ), officially the County of Fier (), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the eighth largest by area and the third most populous of the twelve counties, with about 240,000 people within an area of ...

, southern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality

Mallakastër Mallakastër ( sq-definite, Mallakastra) is a region and a municipality in Fier County, southwestern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the present municipalities Aranitas, Ballsh, Fratar, Greshicë, Hekal, Kutë, Ngraçan, Q ...

. It was the seat of the former District of Mallakastër. The population at the 2011 census was 7,657.2011 census results

Name

It was centre of Malkasra (Turkish of "

") kaza in Sanjak of Berat in Yanya Vilayet during Ottoman rule between 1670 and 1912. Its name evolved from the name of the ancient town

Byllis Byllis (; ; ) or Bullis or Boullis (Βουλλίς) was an ancient city and the chief settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Bylliones, traditionally located in southern Illyria. In Hellenistic times the city was either part of Illyria or Epi ...

, located in proximity of Ballsh. Church sources report the variants ''Byllis'', ''Bellis'', ''Ballis'' and ''Vallis''.

History

Ballsh is close to the ancient city of

, a city during the

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

era. The Slavic invasions of the 6th and 7th centuries caused the decline of Byllis while Ballsh was built with materials plundered from Byllis.Byllis History - A.B.A.P
/ref> Epitaph of Gllavenica

Economy

The city's surrounding fields are rich in crude

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

and are dotted by a series of

oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas m ...

s established during the socialist era. Only a fraction of these wells are operating today, but the city includes a working

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

, and outputs of

naphtha Naphtha (, recorded as less common or nonstandard in all dictionaries: ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Generally, it is a fraction of crude oil, but it can also be produced from natural-gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and ...

s are significant. The refinery was owned by Taçi Oil through ARMO (Anika Mercuria Refinery Associated Oil, owned by Anika Enterprises). In 2013 ARMO was sold to Heaney Assets Corporation, an Azerbaijan corporation.

Sports

The city's team

KS Bylis Ballsh Klubi i Futbollit Bylis is an Albanian professional football club based in Ballsh, part of Mallakastër municipality. They compete in the Abissnet Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football. Their home ground is the Adush Muça Stadium. Hi ...

, plays at the

Adush Muça Stadium Adush Muça Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Ballsh, Albania. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of KS Bylis Ballsh, Bylis. The stadium has a capacity of 2,464 people. Renovation In 201 ...

References

Former municipalities in Fier County Administrative units of Mallakastër Towns in Albania {{Fier-geo-stub

Name

History

Economy

Sports

See also

References