Oil of Russia

By late September 1872, the well had been drilled to a depth of 173.5 feet, after which a weak inflow of petroleum appeared on the surface. This was the long-awaited oil of the Russian North, obtained from a well despite the pessimistic forecasts of many skeptics. In all, the Ukhta well yielded over about 240 barrels of oil. Sidorov exhibited samples of Ukhta oil at the All-Russian Manufacturing Fair in St. Petersburg in 1870, at the Polytechnic Fair in Moscow in 1872, and at three World’s Fairs: in Vienna in 1873, Philadelphia in 1876, and Paris in 1878.

At that time, however, industrial quantities of oil could not be produced from Sidorov’s wells for a variety of reasons. Due to the absence of data on the geologic structure of the Ukhta petroliferous area, wells were drilled only at fairly depleted sites of surface oil shows. At the same time, the manual method of drilling in hard rock did not permit workers to reach the main oil pay zones, which lay more than 325 feet underground.

Of course, Mikhail Sidorov fully understood the need for further oil field development, geologic exploration, and use of power drilling, but the small quantities of oil produced could not pay for the considerable capital he had invested in the Ukhta oil field. He saw a spark of hope from the sale of 720 barrels of Ukhta oil shale (domanik) in France, but for a number of reasons, this sale led nowhere. In addition, Sidorov’s first success in the oil business spurred a new wave of furious opposition on the part of the governor, Prince Gagarin, and local bureaucrats. As Sidorov wrote bitterly, “At this point, I should have halted work, because the new difficulties and new constraints imposed by the administration have placed me in such a position that I could not manage the parcel allocated to me as I saw fit, and where there is no right or freedom of action and everything depends on the administration’s whim, all industry is unthinkable.”

Understanding that he was inevitably doomed to failure on his own, Sidorov began working actively to pool the efforts of all entrepreneurs involved in the development of the natural minerals of the North. Leading a group of entrepreneurs, he appealed to the Russian government: “Based on our experience, our petroleum enterprises, on which we have labored since 1864, are proving nearly impossible to realize under the existing rules, which do not provide us any firm guarantees of compensation for our efforts and expenses. Even so, the development of the oil industry in the North and the construction of refineries will certainly bring tremendous benefit both to domestic industry in general and to the Pechora Territory in particular, because they will help reduce the price and expand the usage of oil, this necessary product in the northern Russian provinces, and settlement of the deserted margins of the North.” Unfortunately, the government departments did not heed the voice of the Russian entrepreneurs, and their appeal remained on the shelf.

Sidorov’s financial situation did not permit him to resume his oil business on the Ukhta until 1881. Prior to this, Sidorov had visited the Baku oil fields, familiarizing himself in detail with the organization of oil production, refining, and storage. At his request, the noted chemist Gustav Schmidt tested various schemes for distilling Ukhta crude at the Konstantinovka Refinery laboratory in Yaroslavl Province. In 1882, Sidorov invited a group of qualified mining specialists from Baku to continue the work, defined a plan for development of the Ukhta oil field, and drew up a list of necessary equipment. He placed a large order in Moscow with Gustav List’s machine factory, which worked for nearly two years—from 1883 to 1885—to fabricate two steam boilers, a drilling rig, a steam engine with forward and reverse gears, a steam pump, drill bits, pipes, reamers, bailers, temper screws, a “free-fall” Fabian system, and other tools for percussion drilling, as well as metal tanks for the oil. This equipment was initially delivered from Moscow by water to Cherdyn, so that it could be shipped from there via the Kolva and Pechora Rives to the site of the field on the Ukhta. Due to certain difficulties that arose during transportation of these oversize cargoes, much of the equipment was never delivered to the field and was simply left at a wide variety of locations along the way.

Mikhail Sidorov’s sudden passing on July 12, 1887 at the age of 64 halted his ambitious and well-planned initiative to develop the Ukhta oil field. He was buried in the Lazarus Cemetery in St. Petersburg, not far from the tomb of his esteemed countryman Academician Mikhail Lomonosov.