Oil on the Tablets of Ancient History
The ancients called oil “the blood of the earth.” It seeped up from cracks in the ground, floated on streams, spread pungent aromas and sometimes spontaneously combusted, attracting the brave and the curious with its power and fascinating character. The modern Russian word for petroleum—neft—is derived from the word nafata, which came into Greek from an Old Persian word meaning “to seep, to ooze.” As civilized technology evolved, oil continued to reward its investigators with rich fruits from its inexhaustible potential.
Oil has been known to humanity since remote antiquity. Archeologists have found that it was extracted and used as early as the sixth or fifth millennium before the Common Era. The oldest known fields are in the area of the Dead Sea, on the banks of the Euphrates River, on the Kerch Peninsula in the Black Sea, and in China’s Szechuan Province, some of the earliest sites of civilization.
Oil or its various naturally occurring forms are mentioned in many ancient writings. According to biblical tradition, Noah smeared his ark inside and out with tar for impermeability to save his family from the Great Flood. The Bible also relates that during the construction of the Tower of Babel, pitch was used as a cementing material: “They said to each other: ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar [chemar] for mortar.”1 Chemar, a Hebrew word commonly translated as tar or bitumen, is the highly viscous bituminous material remaining from the weathering of petroleum. Similar material was also used in the construction of the Great Wall of China and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Tar was also used for waterproofing the ancient dams on the Euphrates River.
Many historians support the view that the area of the Dead Sea was once the site of 13 ancient cities, dominated by the city of Sodom, all of which were destroyed by the pressure of ground water mixed with petroleum and by explosions of gas contained therein.
There is evidence that the ancient Egyptians obtained oil from the Dead Sea and used it for mummification, as well as for various medicinal purposes. In particular, tar ointments were used to treat scabies and boils, and long “baths” in petroleum pools were used to ease joint pain.
According to the Greek historian Xenophon (ca. 430–355/354 BCE), the ruins of ancient Babylon show that heated asphalt was used in building the temples of the Hanging Gardens. The grandiose mosaic roadways and magnificent inscribed plates in the garden palaces of Babylon were cemented with asphalt. Residents of Babylon smeared wooden walls and doors with rock tar to protect against adverse climatic conditions. Archeologists also have found an asphalt floor in the ruins of ancient Kassan (near modern Baghdad, Iraq). Petroleum for these purposes would have been supplied from sources near a tributary of the Euphrates, 120 miles from Babylon.
The Arthasastra of the Indian thinker Chanakya (Kautilya), who lived in the fourth and third centuries BCE, provides reports of experiments with “flammable oil.” And an enormous basin, the bottom and sides of which were covered with a layer of bituminous material, was found in the ruins of the ancient Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro.
The ancient Greek medic and scholar Hippocrates (fifth to fourth centuries BCE) gave a series of medicinal recipes employing petroleum for the treatment of skin diseases. The works of Herodotus, the so-called father of history (490/480–ca. 425 BCE), mentioned oil sources on Zante, an island in the Ionian Sea, while another scholar of antiquity, Plutarch (ca. 45–ca. 127 CE), gave a description of a continuously burning source near the Median capital of Ecbatana (modern Hamadan, Iran). Plutarch noted that the origin of the oil was unknown, but speculates that “the liquid substance that feeds the flame... proceeds from a soil that is unctuous and productive of fire.”
Mentions of petroleum continue in the works of Roman historians from the periods of the Republic and early Empire. Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23/24–79 CE) wrote in his Natural Histories that petroleum had qualities similar to those of sulfur, and that the mythical enchantress Medea allegedly smeared her rival’s crown with it so that, during a sacrificial offering, the crown caught fire and her rival was burned alive. In another work, he praised petroleum’s wondrous curative properties: “And this substance heals cataracts, stops bleeding, relieves toothache, and even promotes eyelash growth.”
The Roman physician Pedanius Dioscorides (first century CE) mentions lamps burning a “Sicilian oil” that came from sources near Agrigento. In the ancient encyclopedia attributed to Bishop Julius Africanus (ca. 224 CE), we can find a recipe for self-igniting flame, which also includes liquid natural asphalt.
Texts from the early days of alchemy, the so-called Alexandrian epoch of the fourth and fifth centuries CE, promoted improvements of the oil distillation process and a certain modernization of laboratory equipment and apparatus.
When Aristotle taught that “nature does nothing in vain,” he recognized that people will always search for the meaning and purpose of things. They found many uses for oil, adapting it to the needs and abilities of civilization, and its meaning evolved alongside.
The Secret of Greek Fire
It is also evident that petroleum was actively used in ancient military applications. The invention of “Greek fire” was a genuine military sensation in antiquity. This new type of weapon considerably strengthened the military might of countries possessing the secret of its preparation and military application.
Historians have yet to establish who invented the “napalm of antiquity.” Some believe it was Byzantine alchemists, while others contend that the secret of its preparation was already known in Ancient Greece. Mentions of such an igneous material can also be found in Chinese chronicles.
Evidence of the use of Greek fire appears throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire. In the latter half of the seventh century, the Empire came under attack from a new threat—the Arab Caliphate, a powerful Arab state built on the tenets of the new religion of Islam, with its capital located at Medina. The Arab Caliphate began military actions against the Byzantine Empire, and in 655 Arab and Byzantine fleets met off the coast of Lycia. The imperial fleet, commanded by Emperor Constantine II, outnumbered the Arab fleet, but ultimately lost the battle. Fourteen years later, Arab ships reached the strategic Sea of Marmara, and in 670 they captured the city of Cyzicus on its coast, turning its port into a major base for their navy. At the same time, the Arab land army moved on Chalcedon (modern district of Kadikoy in Istanbul), and a strong detachment took the coastal area, effectively cutting the Byzantine capital of Constantinople off from the sea (and partly from the land as well) for nine years. Reprieve came only during the winter, when the Arabs would withdraw their navy to Cyzicus to protect it from winter storms.
In 672 Arab troops captured the strategic city of Smyrna down the Anatolian coast and substantially increased their naval strength. Then, beginning in 674, their assault on the Empire intensified. There no longer appeared to be any hope; Byzantium could only be saved by a miracle.
And such a miracle occurred. In a fortuitous turn of events, Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV Pogonatos (652–685) was unexpectedly informed that a certain Kallinikos, a refugee either from Baalbek, Syria, or from Heliopolis, was offering his services in the defense of Constantinople using a previously unknown and formidable weapon. (Incidentally, the name Kallinikos, translated from Greek, means “good victor”) The unusual incendiary compound and a unique device that enabled the compound to be thrown distances that were quite considerable for the time entered the arsenal of the Byzantine navy shortly thereafter. Once equipped with this new weapon, the imperial fleet was ordered to sail to Cyzicus and engage the Arabs.
Upon reaching the Arab fleet, the Byzantine sailors unleashed a furious attack using the unusual devices. The Arab ships were engulfed in flames, and clouds of black smoke filled the sky. The very sea appeared to be on fire. The conflagration lasted over a day, consuming nearly the entire Arab fleet. The frightful material (at the time, the Byzantines called it “liquid fire”) literally turned the Arab warships to ash, and their human losses were enormous. “The Greeks have a fire like lightning from the sky. They sent it at us and completely burned everything in their path, so we could not defeat them,” said one surviving Arab in describing the sea battle with the Byzantines. Thus Greek fire came to play a pivotal role in preserving the empire of “the second Rome.”
A hundred and fifty years after the battle, the Constantinople monk Theophan wrote in his chronicle, based on the reports of historians whose works have unfortunately not survived, that 30,000 men died at Cyzicus on that day. This may have been an exaggeration common for the time, but either way, it is clear that the Arab fleet never fully recovered from the defeat, while the Byzantine Empire continued to survive for nearly another seven centuries.
Modern researchers have repeatedly suggested that the secret of the successful battle application of Greek fire by the Byzantine military lay not only in its composition and the precise proportions of its ingredients, but in the method of its delivery. The ancient inventor Kallinikos likely installed boilers with siphons on the ships, thereby creating an effective means of delivering the incendiary mixture to the target. The jet of liquid flame, forced under pressure from a largely sealed boiler through a siphon tube, surpassed in weight and speed anything that could have been expected from the projectiles of the time. On reaching the target vessel, the fire immediately spread along the decks, making it impossible to fight.
The composition of “Greek fire” and the device for its use in battle were held in strictest secrecy in Byzantium. In his treatise Be Administrando Imperio [On the Governance of the Empire], Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (945–959), mentioned the nations whose ambassadors pestered him with “stupid and unworthy” requests to let them use “liquid fire.” Advising his son how to reject barbarian requests diplomatically, Constantine VII writes: “You can object and refuse in these words: ‘God revealed and taught this through an angel to the very first and great Christian emperor St. Constantine, and this angel gave him a great commandment: This fire must be made only by Christians and only in the city where they rule and nowhere else; and no other people must receive it or be trained in it.’”
In 957, Constantine VII took further measures to ensure Byzantium’s monopoly on the use of this powerful weapon, not only proclaiming the method of its production a state secret, but also ordering a curse to be carved on church altars against anyone who dared to transmit it to foreigners—which in those times was equivalent to issuing a license to kill such transgressors.
For over a century, the Byzantines won many battles using their secret weapon, and it was not until the 12th century that Arab alchemists surmised the secret of Greek fire and used it against the crusaders. The historian Boga-Eddin relates that during the siege of Accons during the Third Crusade (1189–1192), “Petroleum and other materials were cooked in iron pots, and when the mixture turned to fireballs, were thrown at the siege towers of the Christian troops,” which instantly exploded and burned. Jean de Joinville, an adviser to the French King Louis IX (later Saint Louis) and a participant in the Seventh Crusade (1248–1254), saw “liquid fire” in action and was so impressed that he included a description in his Memoirs. According to de Joinville, it was like a lightning-bearing flight of a “winged and long-tailed dragon with a body as thick as a barrel, accompanied by a thunderclap; a burst of flame, which threw back the darkness of night to a great distance.”2
The Eternal Flames of the Absheron Peninsula
The Absheron Peninsula, which juts out into the Caspian Sea near modern-day Baku, Azerbaijan, has also been known for its petroleum since ancient times. The eternal flames that rose from its oil fields never failed to draw the attention of travelers. Thousands of pilgrims streamed to temples located on the peninsula to worship the sacred eternal flames. Historians recount how the Byzantine Emperor Heracles (575–640), while wintering at the mouth of the Kura River 18 miles west of Baku, destroyed the sacred altars, thereby striking a considerable blow against the cult of fire worshipers. However, the altars were soon rebuilt, and fire worshiping emerged anew.
Ancient authors noted that oil was exported from the Absheron Peninsula to Persia as far back as the beginning of the Common Era. Reports of oil production on the peninsula can be found in the manuscripts of many Arab and Persian historians of the Common Era: Ibn Miskawayh (10th cent.), Abu Dulaf (10th cent.), Yaqut al-Hamawi (13th cent.), Hamdullah al-Qazwini (14th cent.).
References to Absheron petroleum appear in numerous other records. The Arab scholar and geographer Abu al-Hasan Masudi (d. ca. 956), in chapter 14 of his treatise, The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems, wrote: “Ships... visit the coast of an area called Bakukh [Baku]; this is a field of white and variegated petroleum. Only Allah knows where else in the world besides this place there is white petroleum.3 This is the coast of the nation of Shirvan. In this oil-bearing place is a volcano, which is one of the sources of flame. It is never calm at any time, and throws fire high into the air.”
The famous Italian traveler Marco Polo (1254–1324) described how people in Baku used petroleum for medicinal purposes and religious ceremonies, while around 1320, the French missionary Jourdain Catalani de Severac wrote in his notes: “There is one place, called Baku, where they dig wells from which they recover and scoop up oil: it is called naphtha, and this oil is flammable, and medicinal, and burns well.”
The Arab geographer Abd ar-Rashid ibn Salih al-Bakuwi asserted that the monthly production of Absheron crude in the early 15th century was 200 khalvars (about 66 barrels, or 10 tons4). Most of it was apparently shipped to Persia.
In the travelogue of Italian Giosafat Barbara (written sometime between 1474 and 1479), one can find the following description: “In this part of the sea is another city, called Baka, from whence the name of the Baka Sea came, near which there is a mountain that spews out black oil, very malodorous, used at night in lamps and for rubbing camels twice a year, because if they are not rubbed, they contract mange.”
The Turkish scholar and traveler of the second half of the 16th century Katip Celebi, also known as Haji Khalifa, wrote that “around the fort of Baku are about 500 wells, from which white and black petroleum oils are produced.”
After his visit to Baku in 1568–1574, the French traveler Jeffrey Duckett wrote the following: “Near the city we observe a strange phenomenon—an amazing quantity of oil comes out of the ground here, for which people come from remote parts of Persia; it serves throughout the country for the lighting of homes. This oil is black and is called ‘nefte.’ It is transported throughout the country on mules and donkeys, which you often encounter in caravans of 400–500. There is also another type of oil near this city of Baku, white and very valuable, and I suppose this is the same as what we call petroleum.”5
In the 17th century, Friedrich, Duke of Holstein, sent two embassies (1633–1635 and 1635–1639) to Muscovy and Persia to establish a trade route to Persia and acquaint themselves with the oil riches of the southern and western coasts of the Caspian. Adam Ölschläger (1599–1671), also known as Olearius, a member of these embassies, visited the Caspian coast in 1636. He wrote that “petroleum is a special oil that is scooped up in very large quantities from permanent wells around Baku and near the Barmakh mountain and is transported in wineskins in large cartloads, as we ourselves witnessed, for sale.... On March 2, we left the mountains and came to a plain a quarter of the way from the sea, passed the high mountain of Barmakh, and not far from the sea saw oil wells. These are various types of pits, numbering up to 30, nearly all located within one gunshot’s range; these issue powerful springs of oil—oleum petroleum. Among these were three main wells, to which we had to descend to a depth of 14 feet, for which purpose several crossbeams were installed, which could be used as steps. From above, we could hear the springs burbling, as if boiling; their odor was fairly strong, and the white oil had a more pleasant smell than the brown oil. Here both brown and white oil could be extracted, but there was more of the former than the latter.”6
Another detailed description of the Baku oil field was made by the secretary of the Swedish embassy to Persia, Engelbert Kämpfer (1651— 1716), during his stay on the peninsula on January 6–8, 1683. He was struck by the “dusty steppe,” which “presented a unique and beautiful sight, for some crevices burned with a large flame, while others emitted a quieter flame and permitted all to approach up close; still others emitted smoke, or in any event a barely noticeable vapor, that widely dispersed a very heavy stench of petroleum. This covered an area 88 paces in length and 26 paces in width.” After describing the area of the temple of fire-worshippers at Surakhany with its eternal flames, the author reported the following: “A thousand paces to the northwest of the eternal flames is another wondrous thing, namely: sources of white petroleum.”7 Kämpfer describes oil production from deep wells using horses and its storage in special covered pools, and also includes drawings of the eternal flames, mud volcanoes, and oil wells.
Oil Springs of the Taman Peninsula
The story of Russian oil production occupies a special place in the pages of the world’s petroleum annals. Rooted deep in antiquity, this history is inextricably linked to the Taman Peninsula and the numerous surface outcrops of oil-bearing rocks there.
From 389 BCE until 375 CE, this territory was part of the Bosporan Kingdom, the largest ancient state in the northern Black Sea region. The residents of this large ancient Greek (and later Roman) colony used petroleum for lighting and other household needs, and for creating the incendiary mixtures that came to be called Greek fire. Excavations by Soviet archeologists in the 1940s and 1950s revealed primitive oil lamps, as well as remnants of clay vessels for storing oil.
The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, already mentioned earlier, author of the treatise De Administrando Imperio (10th cent.), made mention of the Taman Peninsula’s petroleum sources as follows: “[You] must know that beyond the city of Tamatarcha are many sources that discharge petroleum.... The oil from these nine sources is not uniform in color, but some of them are red, others yellow, still others nearly black.”
In 965–966, after the victorious campaigns of the Russian forces commanded by the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav (942–971) and the crushing of the Khazar Khanate, this territory was renamed the Tmutarakan Principality, encompassing both the Taman Peninsula and the lower reaches of the Kuban River. As a military and trading outpost of Kievan Rus, the city of Tmutarakan quickly became one of its biggest southern trading ports, gaining it a tenable position in the Black Sea region. At various times from 980 onward, it was ruled by Princes Oleg Svyatoslavovich, Mstislav Udaloy, and Rostislav Novgorodsky. The principality even had the right to coin its own money. Incidentally, the collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow contains the only three surviving silver coins of the principality minted on a Byzantine pattern during the reign of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavovich.
Unfortunately, very little is known today about the history of this principality. Free peasants, or smerds as they were called in the ancient Russian state, may have worked at the petroleum sources. It is likely that, as before, the oil was shipped to various regions and countries, including Byzantium.
What is known, however, is that around 1111, the Tmutarakan Principality fell under attack by nomadic steppe hordes, the Polovtsy, who, as it turned out, had discovered the key to using Taman petroleum in warfare.
Khan Konchak’s “Living Fire”
According to the Russian chronicles, Ancient Rus’s perennial enemies, the Polovtsy, began actively using their new weapon, “living fire,” made from oil produced from sources on the Taman Peninsula, in 12th-century battles. The Hypatian Chronicle describes the events of one battle of the allied forces of Russian princes in 1184: “The damned and godless and thrice-cursed Konchak with countless detachments of Polovtsy moved against Rus, hoping to capture and burn the Russian cities with fire, for he had found a certain infidel who shot with living fire.... Khan Konchak had a man who knew how to shoot fire and burn cities, who had self-firing bows so great that eight men could barely draw them, and they were mounted on a great carriage. With this, he could throw man-sized stones into the center of the city, and he had a special smaller but very cleverly made device to throw fire.”
However, neither “living fire” nor the “countless” hordes of Khan Konchak could withstand the combined forces of the Russian knights, or their courage and valor. In this battle, the Russian warriors, led by the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, won a brilliant victory: “But Konchak fled behind their back to the other side of the road, and [the Russians] only captured his concubine and the infidel who had the living fire. And he was brought to Svyatoslav with his entire apparatus, and their other warriors were either killed or taken into captivity.”
It is possible that this was when the secret of “living fire” became known to Russian warriors, and one can find indirect evidence of this in several chronicles. Thus, when the Kama Bulgars captured the ancient Russian city of Ustyug, Prince Georgy of Vladimir sent his brother Svyatoslav along with a strong home guard to keep the captors in check. In 1219, Russian forces successfully attacked the Kama Bulgar city of Oshel (modern Ashli), and as one chronicler wrote, “In front marched infantry with fire and axes, followed by archers... they came to the city, ignited it from all sides, and a great storm and smoke drew on them.”
Qizilbash Oil in Moscow
Medieval Russian written sources also contain the first mentions of the primitive production of oil on the territory of the Muscovite state. For example, the Dvina Chronicle (15th cent.) states that the tribe of Chudes, living on the banks of the Ukhta River in the north, collected oil from the river surface and used it for various household purposes.
However, the northern taiga wilderness could not be counted on to supply the regular oil deliveries required by the Russian capital during this period, so the eyes of domestic entrepreneurs turned to the south. Beginning in the 16th century, trading and customs books began to include records of petroleum from the Absheron peninsula, the so-called Qizilbash oil, which was brought to Moscow by traders from various lands. Thus, a section of the Trading Book [Torgovaya kniga] (1575–1610) entitled “Memoir on How to Sell Russian Goods to Foreigners” mentions that in the case of a successful trip to Shamakhy, Azerbaijan, the reader could contract to deliver more than 57 barrels of black oil to foreigners.
In those days, Shamakhy was the capital of the ancient feudal state of the Persian vassals known as Shirvanshahs. Shamakhy contained a Russian merchant colony that had existed since the 12th century and developed successful trade relations. The Russian merchants purchased oil in local containers—tuluks and suleyas (in leather bags with a capacity of about 36 pounds and bottles with a capacity of a little over 24 pounds, respectively)—and transported it by ship to Astrakhan. From Astrakhan, the oil was shipped up the Volga to the cities of Tsaritsyno, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and other major Volga trading centers. Oil reached the capital of Muscovy primarily from Nizhny Novgorod via the Oka and Moskva (Moscow) Rivers. It also reached Arkhangelsk by a northern route via Vologda, and from there ships carrying Russian goods by sea delivered the cargo to Europe.
Data have survived showing that in 1636, after an inventory of reserves in Moscow, the state treasury contained 20 barrels of Qizilbash oil. It should be noted that in Russia, oil traders who had left the Qizilbash tribe of Afshars were called Qizilbashes, literally “Red Heads,” because they decorated their heads with enormous red-woven turbans.
The books of the Moscow trading house contain a record from 1694 of the shipment of oil from Baku and Astrakhan to Moscow by the Russian merchants Ivan Sveshnikov, Ivan Shaposhnikov, and Mikhail Pushnikov and the collection of duty on the goods.
Various Oil Projections
There is written evidence that petroleum was used again in warfare in Russia in the Middle Ages. The incendiary mixture for various weapons made by Russian masters at the Cannon and Grenade Works included not only sulfur, saltpeter, and camphor powder, but also turpentine, drying oil, pitch, linseed oil, and asphalt. These components were mixed with oil, yielding “fireballs” weighing about 1.8 pounds and arrows for destroying fortifications and burning ships, bridges, and siege towers. As for the quantity of “petroleum” munitions, it is possible to get a sense of the vast number of these weapons used by considering the inventory of remaining equipment of the Artillery Office following the Crimean campaign of 1689: 480 “fire lances,” 2,400 “fire-shooting arrows with finned lances,” and 100 “fireballs” in 1691.
In addition to armaments, oil was also used in Russia in the late 17th century to make compounds for firecrackers and fireworks for numerous secular holidays. Yet another application of oil can be found in the Russian medieval chronicles, in which the unique color and appearance of household objects of worship and Russian icons is attributed to the special composition of the paints used, which included petroleum. Icon painters were instructed to “make up any paint wax and apply drying oil and petroleum so that it will dry faster.... And when you apply drying oil to the icon and it becomes stiff, apply a little petroleum or turpentine with a finger and spread it. It will quickly adhere to the icon and will not run.”
There is also evidence that petroleum and its derivatives were widely used in medieval Russia for therapeutic purposes. Russian physicians used oil as a medication for certain skin diseases, and for joint diseases and rheumatism. This is documented in the 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts Book of Cures [Lechebnik], The Garden of Health Care [Sad zdravookhraneniya], The Home Pharmacopeia or Pharmacy [Farmakopeya ili apteka domashnyaya], and Stones and Herbs [O kamnyakh i travakh]. The manuscript Book of Cures advises: “If you smear patients with oil, then the disease will be relieved. White oil relieves disease that comes from cold. But black oil, which is not very pleasant, relieves cough and intestinal colic.” The same source recommends dripping oil into the eyes “of a person who has cataracts8 or whose tears are running.”
In 1692, the book Noord Oost en Tartarye [North and East Tat aria], written by Nicolaes Witsen, who lived for three years as part of the Dutch embassy to the court of Tsar Aleksey Mikhaylovich, was published in Amsterdam. This book contains the following noteworthy information: “The Ukhta River is a day away from Pechora.... On this river, a mile and a half from the portage, is a small place where oil that is black petroleum separates from the water.”
Leonty Kislyansky’s Discovery
In the 17th century, the Russian state was governed through a growing network of offices. These included the Embassy Office, which managed relations with foreign states and trade with foreign merchants; the Treasury Office, in charge of treasury trade and industry; and the Weapons Board, which manufactured, procured, and stored weapons and palace utensils. In 1637, the government formed the Siberian Office, which combined administrative, judicial, and financial functions in the administration of the extensive Siberian territories.
The documents of the Siberian Office contain reports that the local residents collected “Siberian rock oil” on the Yenisey and along the banks of Lake Baikal. It flowed out of the rocky river banks, floated on Baikal, and was thrown up on its shores by the wind. Siberian rock oil was used as an ointment against rheumatic diseases and for healing wounds. It was even shipped to Moscow, as recorded in the entry for 1650 in a customs book: “The Ustyi native Roman Yevdeyev came from Siberia on someone else’s ship... in addition to soft materials, he brought half a pound of rock oil.” Incidentally, we know from the archives that one pound of rock oil was worth 10 kopecks in Yeniseysk in 1649.
In 1684, the Siberian Office, on the basis of a decree by tsars Ivan Alekseyevich and Peter Alekseyevich, directed the chief administrator of Irkutsk, Leonty Kislyansky, to “question all ranks of people and taxpaying foreigners about gold and silver, and about copper and tin and lead ores, and about iron and about diamonds, and mica and dye, and about saltpeter, and about other resources.”
Leonty Kislyansky had a very successful career in medieval Russia. He was born in Poland, entered Russian service in 1671 after adopting the Orthodox faith, and was granted perpetual citizenship by Tsar Aleksey Mikhaylovich. He served from 1671 to 1677 in the Embassy Office and the Weapons Board as a master of painting, where he first encountered the use of petroleum in iconography. In 1680, Kislyansky was assigned to serve in Yeniseysk, and then in 1683, he was sent to Irkutsk as an administrator.
At the time, the stockaded town of Irkutsk was relatively small. It was surrounded by a wooden wall with six towers and bridges, one of which contained a treasury barn, which held a copper cannon, rifles, and various ammunition. The town had only 40 farmsteads. The Russian ambassador to Beijing, Nikolay Sparafy, stopped at Irkutsk in 1675 and noted that there were no moorings at the mouth of the Angara, only cliffs and rocks, and “in a word, groves—exceedingly terrible, in particular to those who first of all had not been there, because everywhere around are very high snowy mountains and impassable forests and rocky cliffs.”
Among Leonty Kislyansky’s duties were: to collect “tributes”—sable, fox, and beaver pelts—from tributary local tribes; “not to be harsh, impudent, or offensive;” “to seek out new lands for the state’s exalted hand;” and to trade with the Bukhars and other foreign merchants, “but to ensure that they did not carry off rifles, powder, and lead to their own lands.” In addition, he was charged with the special mission of baptizing locals wishing to adopt the Orthodox faith, and “to disburse three rubles and one piece of fabric apiece” to each newly baptized person and “enlist them into service.”9
In fulfilling the instructions of the Siberian Office, Leonty Kislyansky, with the assistance of service people, found mica in Siberia along the banks of the Ura and Angara Rivers and in the Baikal region, as well as graphite and lapis lazuli on the banks of the Vitim River, and was the first to report “oil shows,” or visible indications of petroleum in Siberia.
This is reflected in his report to the Yenisey governor, Prince Konstantin Shcherbatov, dated 1684, and excerpted here: “But in the stockaded town of Irkutsk, the Irkut residents literally said in conversation before me: behind the stockaded Irkutskaya Creek, fire supposedly comes out of the mountain from who knows where, and in that place snow does not live in winter and grass does not grow in summer. And against their warnings, I went from Irkutsk not far, only a verst [0.93 miles]10 or less, and vapor came from the mountain, and if you put your hand on it, you cannot hold it for long, and from far off you sense the stench from this petroleum vapor, and when you approach this vapor and the well, there comes a direct stench of real petroleum from the well, and if you dig the hole a little deeper, a little more heat comes from the well, and then you know that there is real petroleum.” Impressed by the abundant resources, Leonty Kislyansky began planning for the extraction of the petroleum, only hoping that, “God willing, there will be no trouble from the unfriendly Mongols and Chinese, and based on those supposed signs and rifts I will dig and earn a living with all solicitude.”
After that, apparently, it was precisely his hostile “neighbors” that prevented the Irkutsk administrator from realizing his far-reaching plans. Somewhat later, he reported to Yeniseysk: “I have not dug any petroleum to date because I intend to produce it in great quantities, but I have yet to find the men to carry out the work.”
Later Leonty Kislyansky, for his diligence in the service of the state, received the title of stolnik, and was appointed to a high post in Moscow, and we know of his participation in a series of Russian military campaigns. Unfortunately, at the time there was no one among his comrades-in-arms who could continue further exploration of surface oil shows, so the treasury of Siberian “black gold” remained untouched until the mid-20th century.
Peter the Great and Oil
For most Russian and foreign historians, the grand achievements in Russia in the early 18th century are seen as a period of great Petrovian reforms. It was in this century that, according to the noted foreign researcher J. Blum, Russian industrial development was equal to and sometimes even superior to that of the rest of Europe. Russian historian and Academician Yevgeny Tarle (1874–1955) even went so far as to deem the extensive vigor of Russian history in the late 18th century as one of the most important and great phenomena of world history.
Along with all the reforms and developments of this era, Emperor Peter I (Peter the Great, 1672–1725) was also responsible for the first attempts at the practical use of petroleum in Russia.
On August 24, 1700, a decree from the tsar founded the Mining Office, which came to supervise all activities in the development and exploitation of the Russian Empire’s minerals. In another decree dated November 2, 1700, Peter the Great clearly defined the objectives of this state mining institution, which encompassed all phases of the prospecting, exploration, and development of mineral deposits.
Efforts to find ore riches were undertaken throughout Russia at Peter the Great’s initiative. By January 2, 1703, the newspaper Vedomosti [“Gazette”], edited by the tsar himself, reported: “They write from Kazan that much oil has been found on the Sok River.”
In 1713, Peter the Great wrote a letter to his closest associate, the diplomat Pavel Yaguzhinsky (1683–1736), demanding the procurement in Baku of 10 vedros (32.5 gallons; or about 101 kilograms)11 of oil and the delivery of the same to St. Petersburg. When the oil was purchased, it became clear that the price of oil had risen considerably, reaching 30 kopecks a pound by 1713. After a thorough search, Yaguzhinsky managed to purchase 16 vedros (52 gallons; or about 164 kilograms) of oil at 25 kopecks a pound from the trader Ivan Fëdorovich of Syromyat Sloboda [Syromyat Free Settlement].
Faced with the high costs of importing oil to Russia, Peter the Great turned his attention to developing petroleum sources within the country, focusing on the potential oil-bearing lands between the Terek and Sunzha Rivers. He ordered the preparation of an expedition to the region, but the expedition’s departure was postponed due to the emperor’s upcoming trip to Europe.
It was during this extended visit to Europe that Peter the Great met with eminent European scientists and miners. These meetings and his introduction to the state of affairs in Western economics led the tsar to certain conclusions on the necessity for prompt modernization in Russia, including the mining industry.
After his return home, Peter the Great signed a decree forming the Manufacturing and Mining Board,12 and appointed his close associate Yakov Bryus [Jacob Bruce] (1670–1735), later given the title of count and the rank of general field marshal, to head it.
Meanwhile, the delayed expedition to prospect for oil-bearing lands in Russia took place in 1718, and at the tsar’s order, court physician Gottlieb Schober was sent to the Terek-Sunzha region. Not far from a mineral hot spring, he discovered that “oil or petroleum flows from a certain mountain... no one collects it or uses it.”13
At the direction of Peter the Great, the statesman and diplomat Artemy Volynsky (1689–1740) inspected the site of this same region. In a letter to the tsar, he conjectured that “this is a flow of true balsam sulfuris,” which in this area “is called petroleum out of ignorance,” and is used “instead of tar to lubricate carts, of which, Majesty, I expect you can get a pood [36 pounds] at 30 or more.”14
As the number of Russian enterprises and mining operations grew sharply, it proved inconvenient to combine the management of mining plants and manufactories in one government agency. Peter the Great’s decree of December 10, 1719, “On the Institution of the Mining Board for Allocation to It of Ore and Mineral Affairs,” created a special institution, the Mining Board, with a diversified network of local institutions. In his decree, the tsar wrote: “Our Russian state is blessedly richer than many other lands in both required metals and minerals, which have remained unsought by any diligence until the present.... God’s beneficence must not remain underground in vain.”
On that same day in 1719, Peter the Great established the Mining Privilege, defining the government’s policy in the mining industry for the next 88 years, until 1807. The Mining Privilege declared all minerals the property of the tsar, regardless of who owned the parcel of land. Landowners were granted the right of preferential development of minerals and construction of plants. The Mining Privilege established the right of hereditary ownership of plants, protected industrialists from interference by the local administration, guaranteed financial assistance in the construction of enterprises and the right of free sale of smelted metal, and set the amount of compensation for discovered ore. In 1739, the Mining Privilege was supplemented by a special Mining Regulation.
In addition to other issues, the Mining Board also addressed oil prospecting. In the spring of 1721, Mezen resident Grigory Cherepanov reported to the Mining Board that he had found an “oil spring” in Pustoye Ozero District of Arkhangelsk Province. Tsar Peter the Great, to whom this was reported, immediately directed a thorough investigation of the oil source, as well as the awarding to “ore expert” Cherepanov six rubles, “so that he would also have a desire to find more ore in the future.”
Subsequently, the Russian emperor maintained an interest in petroleum and even ordered the assembly of knowledgeable people for discussion of the oil business. Several inspections of the Ukhta oil source were made, during which eight bottles of Ukhta oil were delivered to the capital in 1724.
Peter the Great’s Caspian Campaign
In the first quarter of the 18th century, the Caspian region became an object of Emperor Peter the Great’s constant attention. He regarded it as an important strategic springboard, both for the defense of the Empire and for the future development of Russian trade with the East.
Persia claimed the role of partner to the Russian Empire during that time, as it possessed considerable capabilities and, in turn, badly needed a strong ally capable of protecting it from claims by the militant Ottoman Empire in the west and restless Afghan tribes in the east.
The evolving situation and complication of conditions inside Persia forced Russia to act in various directions. The first step was the signing of a mutual trade treaty with Shah Soltan Hosayntan Hosayn in 1718, specifying certain actions by the Russians both to protect their own interests and to assist the legal Persian government if necessary.
A steady stream of alarming reports from Persia prompted the Russian government to consider a possible adverse scenario in the development of events, and Peter the Great began planning a Russian military campaign to the Caspian to preclude them.
Thorough preparations for this complex military operation required nearly three years. First, two Russian officers, Fëdor Soymonov and Karl von Werden, performed a thorough survey of the region in 1719, drawing up a detailed map of the Caspian Sea.
It was during this time that Fëdor Soymonov made a special visit to the oil fields on the Absheron Peninsula. It is clear that Emperor Peter the Great did not overlook his report, particularly its mention of the fact that, from 1716 onward, petroleum from the Baku oil wells—which were farmed15 to a vassal of the Persian shah, Soltan Mohammad Hosayn Fetig ‘Ali—earned the shah’s court the Russian monetary equivalent of over 49,000 rubles annually. If we consider that the maintenance of a single Russian army soldier cost about 1.5 kopecks per day, this sum would have been sufficient for the annual maintenance of a Russian army of nearly 10,000. Furthermore, Peter the Great’s numerous notations on the reports of Fëdor Soymonov and Karl von Werden, and on the reports of the Russian envoy to Persia, Artemy Volynsky, convincingly show that petroleum had gained a firm grip on the emperor’s attention.
In the winter of 1721–1722, armed units of militant Afghan tribes overthrew the Persian ruler, Shah Soltan Hosayn, and Prince Tahmasp, the lawful heir to the throne, was forced to flee and hide in the Trans-caspian regions of Persia. This gave Peter the Great a pretext to come to the defense of the lawful authority, and he personally led an army of 50,000 during the Persian (Caspian) campaign of 1722–1723.16
The beginning of May 1722 was the official start date of the “Caspian campaign.” Admiral General Fëdor Apraksin (1661–1725) commanded the navy, and a flotilla of cargo ships (scows) was commanded by the aforementioned Lieutenant Captain Karl von Werden, who was thoroughly familiar with the region.
In August 1722, while Russian ships were en route to Derbent, Emperor Peter the Great and several fellow travelers went ashore near the town of Tarki [later Fort Petrovsk, modern Makhachkala] and set out on foot for the oil wells, which his majesty wished to see. On August 23, 1722, the authorities and people of Derbent met the Russian emperor with a most honorable reception. The city’s naib (head of the city administration) gave him the keys to the city gates. Peter the Great then returned to Astrakhan, turning command of the Russian troops over to Lieutenant General Mikhail Matyushkin (1676–1737).
In Astrakhan on November 4, 1722, Peter the Great wrote an instruction for the commander titled “What to Do When, God Willing, We Take Baku.” Included in this instruction was the significant phrase, “Explore duties and revenues. And especially on petroleum and saffron. How much they were in good times and how much now, and how much went to the shah and how much went in pockets.”
On August 18, 1723, on orders from Lieutenant General Matyushkin, an “Inventory of Oil Wells and Vaults near Baku” was drawn up. According to this inventory, in the field, i.e., 6.6–13.2 miles from Baku, there were 66 operational wells and 16 storehouses; in a second field, 13.2 miles from the city, there were four wells with “white” petroleum; and outside the city gates were 14 storehouses containing oil and five empty storehouses.
In a second instruction dated September 9, 1723, Peter the Great ordered the retrieval of several dozen pounds of oil, which were delivered to St. Petersburg in eight bottles in early 1724.
The lawful government of Persia, in the person of the new Shah Tahmasp II, deemed the Russian troops’ Caspian operation a mission of liberation. In gratitude for saving the country, Persia ceded western and southern parts of the Caspian coast, including the cities of Derbent and Baku, and the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Astarabad (now Gorgan) to Russia under the Petersburg Treaty, signed September 12, 1723.
Soon thereafter, in late September, General Matyushkin, then in Astrakhan, received a decree from Emperor Peter the Great, “On the Entry of His Imperial Majesty into Eternal Possession of the Cities of Derbent, Baku, and Other Provinces.”
In May 1724, the emperor again ordered that “white oil, 1,000 poods [120 barrels] or as much as possible,”17 be sent to him. Fulfilling this order, General Mikhail Matyukhin sent more than 18 barrels of “white” oil from Baku to Astrakhan in the summer of that year, which was later delivered to Moscow.
After the death of Peter the Great in February 1725, interest in the practical application of petroleum waned considerably, but archive documents imply that three barrels of oil were sent to the merchant Johann Lubs in Holland by decision of the Commerce Board in February 1726. The foreign middleman was asked to learn its real price and possible sales volumes. Judging by the Commerce Board report, demand for petroleum in Holland proved small, yet, despite the commercial inauspiciousness of the results, this exercise is significant in that it represents the first attempt, carried out more than 280 years ago, by a Russian government institution to undergo a marketing study of the foreign petroleum market.
Yakov Shakhanin, “Mineral Hunter”
The monarchical successors to Emperor Peter the Great in the following decade could not hold the Caspian additions to the Empire, including the oil fields on the Absheron Peninsula. The succession of palace coups during the time of “female rule” substantially weakened the Russian Empire’s foreign policy positions. As a result, under the Treaty of Resht of 1732 and the Ganja Treaty of 1735, the Caspian regions were returned to Persia.
Thus, petroleum was once again an overseas good for Russians. In 1733, Dr. Johann Lerche, a member of the Russian embassy in Persia, visited the Absheron Peninsula. “On July 30, 1733,” he wrote, “I rode five versts [3.3 miles] from the unquenchable flame to Balakhany, to the black petroleum springs.... Fifty-two of these wells were found during the times of the Persian shah; by means of these, great trade was carried on in those days, but now only 26 remain intact.... Wells 20 sazhens [140 feet] deep, of which one flows very strongly and delivers 500 batmans of oil per day (a batman is 15 pounds of Russian weight [13.5 lb. avdp.]); they boil strongly, so they can be heard.”18
Additionally, Dr. Lerche noted one extremely interesting fact— namely, the distillation of petroleum as a well-known process. As he put it, “The oil does not catch fire quickly, it is dark brown in color, and when it is distilled, it becomes light yellow. The white oil is somewhat turbid, but distillation makes it as clear as alcohol, and this ignites very quickly.”
However, despite the abundance and quality of Absheron Peninsula oil, the high price and difficulty of delivering Baku crude to Russia forced domestic entrepreneurs to finance oil prospecting directly in promising areas of the Russian Empire.
In 1735, the “mineral hunter” Yakov Shakhanin, under orders from the Mining Board, obtained the right to prospect for metal and mineral ores in all provinces and regions. His persistent prospecting quickly yielded positive results. He found sulfur and aluminous ores on the shores of the Volga, and even built a small processing mill, but could not take advantage of the fruits of his labors. As a result of a commercial conflict due to a disagreement with comrades (that is, with other participants who co-owned the enterprise), the Yaroslavl town hall turned Shakhanin over as a conscript, and he was sent to serve as a soldier to the 10th company of the Karelian Regiment.
Torn away from his favorite business of mineral prospecting by military service, Yakov Shakhanin decided in February 1738 to take a bold step: He submitted a report directly to the Cabinet of her Imperial Majesty Anna Ioannovna, asking that he be released from his conscript obligation and that the mineral fields he had discovered be used for the benefit of the state. In the report, he also informed the Empress of the oil fields and saltpeter deposits he had found in the Volga region: “There is more of my saltpeter and mineral petroleum mine, specifically along the Volga River below the city of Sibirsk near the city of Tetyushi, and also saltpeter in the Novodevichy Hills near the palace village of Zhegulikh, and 20 versts [13.2 miles] above the city of Syzran, in the hills near the village of Kostychey, saltpeter lies about two miles.”
First Cabinet Minister Count Andrey Osterman (1686–1747), who received Yakov Shakhanin’s appeal, imposed the following resolution: “Based on this report, transfer the hunter of the Military Board to the artillery, so that it may use him in those affairs, and so that it may order those saltpeter sites shown by him to be certified by knowledgeable masters.”
Based on this directive, the Main Artillery Chancellery sent Yakov Shakhanin, the “mineral hunter,” to the Samara sulfur and saltpeter mines located in a Sergiyev suburb, and ordered their director, Commissar Vasily Verkhovsky, to “travel to the saltpeter and petroleum sites indicated by Shakhanin and certify the same.... And those sites that are several versts [miles], describe in detail... take about ten pounds each at various sites for judgment of quality, and where there is petroleum in the hills.” Thus, the leadership of the artillery chancellery was not only interested in saltpeter needed for the production of gunpowder, but also in petroleum, since their duties included the preparation of holiday light shows.
The expedition confirmed Shakhanin’s information regarding the presence of petroleum on the high right bank of the Volga. An oil sample taken there in early 1741 by special courier Lieutenant Mikhail Lugovsky was delivered to Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg. On April 16, 1741, the Main Artillery Chancellery sent it to the Academy of Sciences for further study.
On April 23, 1741, in the laboratory of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Academician Johann Amman (1707–1741) completed his analysis of the sample oil from the Samara sulfur mills and observed: “The oil sent smells very bad, and it is thick, black, and very dirty. It does not burn, even if a lit match is held over it, or even if the match is dipped into the oil. But when a lit cotton paper wick is placed in the oil, it burns quietly and a small flame rises above it.... In my opinion, it is good for nothing other than for making grease, torches, and tar strings, as well as wicks where an unclear, weak flame is needed. In addition, it can be used in icon lamps in place of a wick if its finest and lightest particles are separated by distillation, then it will be nearly the same as simple Persian oil.”
An American chemist, Yale University professor Benjamin Silliman, came to the same conclusion, that distillation of the petroleum could yield a quality lighting material, but that conclusion was drawn over a century later, in 1855. While his report played a decisive role in accelerating the development of the American oil industry in the latter half of the 19th century, the thorough findings of Academician Amman in 1741, alas, remained unnoticed in Russia.
As for the fate of the “mineral hunter” Yakov Shakhanin, he made an attempt to create a partnership to develop the Syzran oil fields and tar deposits, but failed for unexplained reasons.
Fëdor Pryadunov’s Oil Works
Twenty years after the death of the first Russian Emperor, Peter the Great, the Mining Board once again returned to the issue of Russian oil produced in the Empire’s North. The history of the North’s development in this regard is tied to entrepreneur Fëdor Savelyevich Pryadunov (1696–1753), a pioneer of the domestic oil business, and the creation and operation of his oil works, the first such works in Russia.
The Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow holds a document titled “Extract” that recounts the story of the first Russian oil enterprise belonging to Arkhangelsk resident Fëdor Pryadunov. Here are just a few lines: “In 1745, on the 18th day of November, by decision of the Mining Board, and by the report of the former Arkhangelsk Mining Office at the request of Arkhangelsk resident Fëdor Pryadunov, it was ordered that an oil works be started at an empty site on the small Ukhta River in Pustoye Ozero District in Arkhangelsk Province, and further that the plant be maintained with voluntary capital without stopping, and said oil be sold.”
A detailed description of this field is given in K. Molchanov’s book, Description of Arkhangelsk Province, Its Cities, Monasteries, and Other Noteworthy Sites [Opisaniye Arkhangelskoy gubernii, yeya gorodov, monastyrey i drugikh dostoprimechatelnykh mest] (1813): “In the neighborhood of Izhmyn, on the Ukhta River, there was an oil works, which consisted of the following structure: above the actual oil spring flowing in the middle was built a four-cornered frame 13 rows high, of which six rested on the bottom, and the rest on the ground surface. Inside the frame was a narrow-bottomed tub, which admitted the petroleum flowing out of the water through a hole in the bottom, protected from the fast-flowing water by a cutwater placed on one side.” It is clear from this description that the author is speaking of a structure for gathering petroleum from the water’s surface.
Other archival documents speak of how oil production on the Ukhta was begun in August 1746 by Pryadunov and his employees.
Another unique document on Ukhta petroleum has survived as well. This is a certificate dated May 6, 1747, written by two German researchers, D. M. Miller and M. D. Lossau. The document is an attachment to Fëdor Pryadunov’s February Report No. 524 of 1749, wherein he states that “I took ordinary and distilled oil and sent it to Hamburg.”
The Hamburg scientists diligently investigated the Ukhta oil, comparing it to Italian oil, and concluded that it could be used “in cold phlegms, in dislocations, in colds, in shivers, in enfeeblements, and in joint fractures, as rock oil will provide good external care.”
The archival “File on Fëdor Pryadunov’s Oil Works” contains information to the effect that Mining Lt. Christian Lehmann performed the first distillation of oil brought by Pryadunov to the Mining Board’s laboratory in Moscow on October 10, 1748: “Of which three pounds were taken for rectification, which yielded two pounds of rectified pure oil.” It is also specified that Fëdor Pryadunov had begun independent studies in that laboratory: “On October 19 of the same year, Pryadunov verbally informed the Mining Board that 40 poods [4.8 barrels] of Russian oil said to have been extracted by him, Pryadunov, by the first of May 1746 and 1747 in Pustoye Ozero District on Ukhta Creek, had been delivered to the laboratory of the Mining Board in Moscow, all of which Pryadunov was said to have rectified. And rectification yielded two-thirds pure oil weighing 26 poods 26 and a half pounds [962.5 pounds].”
Archive documents show that as a result of an unusual spring flood and the resulting destruction at the Ukhta field, oil production was suspended in 1748.
In 1749, only 216 pounds of oil were produced in the field, partly due to the fact that in August and September of that year, Fëdor Pryadunov was under arrest in Moscow on a complaint by the Main Medical Chancellery for failing to obey a prohibition and acting as a “vulgar uncertified healer treating all diseases of various types of people with rock oil.”
On October 19, 1750, at the direction of the Mining Board, Fëdor S. Pryadunov’s oil works was examined by a special commission consisting of Corporal Grigory Golenishchev and land burgomaster Fedot Rochev. Their report left a fairly detailed description of the Ukhta field, listing all facilities, including the following: “In the forest was a dilapidated yard, cleared canopy and roof, a new bathhouse in the yard, three overgrown lagoons and a half-barrel, and it contained a kneading trough, a bowl, a plate, and a petroleum scoop, as well as 55 logs, a new boat, and a petroleum tub.”
From that time on, Fëdor Pryadunov suffered a series of ordeals, including further arrests for tax evasion, and then imprisonment for many months in the Moscow debtor’s prison, where he passed away in March 1753.
After Fëdor S. Pryadunov’s death, the oil works in Ukhta passed from one owner to another. Available archive data show that the Ukhta oil field operated from 1746 through 1786, i.e., for less than 40 years.
In subsequent years, the Mining Board undertook attempts to resume oil production in Pechora Territory. These included reviewing a request from Novoye Usolye resident Vasily Ratov and Moscow merchant Aleksandr Sobolev on the possibility of “permitting the production, along the Izhma and Posva Rivers... of petroleum, which is said to exist in significant quantities at those locations.” In view of the bad experiences of their predecessors, including that of Fëdor Pryadunov, these entrepreneurs immediately made a request for concessional taxation, i.e., “release from payment of tithes for ten years—due to the newness of the plant, so that they could recoup the capital used in prospecting for the mineral.”
It is noteworthy that this request contains the first proposal for protectionism: “Prohibit shipments of oil from other Baltic Sea locations, for they could satisfy all of Russia with petroleum from the locations sought out by them.”
In the end, the Mining Board resolved to permit production by Vasily Ratov and Aleksandr Sobolev, but to deny tax relief, as there was no need for construction of a plant, because “petroleum is gathered from the water’s surface.” Unfortunately, historians have nothing further to say on the operations of this enterprise in subsequent years.
Nadyr Urazmetov: Oil Pioneer of the Volga Region
The first attempts to organize oil production in the Volga region were associated with the efforts of Major General Mikhail Opochinin, president of the Mining Board from 1753 to 1760. At that time a local entrepreneur, Nadyr Urazmetov, was granted a permit to open an oil field on the Sok River above Sergiyevsk.
In his letter to the Mining Board, Urazmetov wrote: “Last year, in 1752, we explored on our own serf land on the Kazan Road in the Ufa District along both sides of the Sok River above the town of Sergiyevsk upward, riding along the right side, near Mt. Sart-Ata, we found black petroleum in a small lake. Going further, above the Sergiyev line along a stream called Syrgut in Russian, or Kukorta in Tatar,... we also found petroleum.... And along the Sok and near Surshla and Usakla there is a lake and there is black petroleum in it, and above that lake atop the Sok River is the Choktemir Forest, and from that forest came a small spring containing black petroleum. From those sites we took about ten pounds or more of oil for a sample, and we ask the Mining Board to accept and test that black oil and give us permission to construct an oil works on the assigned proprietary land.”
On February 21, 1754, mining chemist Christian Lehmann sent the Mining Board a report on the analysis of the petroleum found by Nadyr Urazmetov, in which he noted its suitability for various purposes. The analysis was thorough, inasmuch as it determined the ratio of drams in white and red parts, or in modern language, the ratio of various petroleum fractions.
On September 15, 1754, the Orenburg Province Chancellery reported receiving “Her Imperial Majesty’s Decree 1132 of July 12 from the State Mining Board on the request of the Orenburg Province, Ufa District, Kazan Road, Nadyr District, Village of Nadyrova, foremen Nadyr Urazmetov, Yusup Nadyrov, and Aslyam da Khozi Mozyakovykh, acknowledging permission given them to build an oil works on their proprietary land in Ufa District, on Kazan Road, on Karmaly Creek and enjoining them from giving any offense to or imposing on or obstructing anyone in the construction of said plant and in the search for petroleum, both to members of other faiths and to other people of any title inhabiting their land.”
Eight years later, in his Topography of the Orenburg Province [Topografiya Orenburgskoy gubernii], Pëtr Rychkov (1712–1777), a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, wrote the following about Nadyr Urazmetov’s enterprise: “There are petroleum springs in various places near the aforementioned Sergiyevsk, where there were oil works before this. By decision of the Mining Board on June 16, 1754, in response to the request of the Tatar foreman Nadyr Urazmetov, a decree was issued to this Nadyr and his son Yusup to start up a plant near the Zakamskaya Line on the Karamala Creek, for which they found four petroleum springs nearby and submitted samples of oil from them to the Board, which the Board’s tests proved to be oil.”
In early 1757, the Orenburg Mining Command sent a report to the Mining Board regarding certification of an oil works. The report stated that “on August 21, 1756, geodetic student Pavel Zubrinsky was [sent] from this command to perform the prescribed certification and description, and he certified and described and charted the site.” The certification and description were then forwarded to the State Mining Board on December 19, 1756. It should be noted that Zubrinsky’s chart of 1756 has survived and it is held in an archive in Moscow. Russian historians believe it is the first map of a major oil field of the Volga-Urals region.
Unfortunately, however, Nadyr Urazmetov was unable to complete the work he started. The “Report of the Orenburg Mining Command to the Mining Board,” dated December 19, 1756, on the inspection of Urazmetov’s oil works, states that “Nadyr Urazmetov, having received the Mining Board’s order, came to his village and contracted a serious illness, for which he has still received no treatment. However, in the previous year 1755, at the site where the works was to be built, he did erect a barn for cooking at the first opportunity. But only due to that illness, he could not build a proper plant... nor properly start it. But a comrade of his son Yusup Nadyrov... wrote to his colleagues without his consent, and he, Yusup, does not wish to build the works. But he, Nadyr, when he is free of the illness, wishes to build the works according to his commitment.” However, the Mining Board did not take Nadyr Urazmetov’s illness into consideration, the bureaucrats would not wait for his recovery, and in late 1757 Urazmetov was removed from the list of works owners. To date, no further information on the fate of this pioneer of the Volga oil business has been found in the Russian archives.
Mikhail Lomonosov and Russian Oil
During the reign of Empress Catherine the Great [Yekaterina II] from 1762 to 1796, the Russian state gained a new impetus for its development. The Manifest of 1775 and the “Charter of Rights and Benefits for Russian Cities” opened up new prospects for development of industrial production and trade in the country.
The renowned natural scientist, experimenter, and Academician Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765) made a solid contribution to the development of the scientific and industrial potential of the Russian Empire. Among his many achievements, he was the first to formulate the universal principle of conservation of matter and motion, which formed the basis of physical chemistry.
In 1743, Lomonosov completed his manuscript, First Principles of Metallurgy or Mining [Pervyye osnovaniya metallurgii, ili rudnykh del]. In preparing the book for publication, he added a section, “On the Earth’s Layers,” which dwelled on the plant origin of petroleum, peat and coal. The book, which was published in 1763, contained a lot of new ideas on fossil fuels and their origins. For instance, in “On the Earth’s Layers,” the Russian scientist wrote that underground heat drives petroleum out of coal and peat, so that it “enters various dry and wet clefts.”
In Lomonosov’s opinion, petroleum could also form as a byproduct in the conversion of peat to coal. The talented scientist came to the following conclusion: strong underground fires produce thick, black tar such as asphalt or jet, while milder underground heat produces clear, light crude. Lomonosov supported the conclusion with the results of his observations on the distillation of “oily materials:” “when it is produced over a high flame, the oil comes out black and thick; conversely, a light flame makes it light and clear.” As an adjunct to the physics class of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, he carried out the distillation of petroleum under laboratory conditions a number of times in the course of his experiments. (It should be noted that the State Historical Museum in Moscow has preserved his laboratory.)
The scientist wrote that “the thinnest material from peat and from primary distillation oil, collected in some warm cavity, is redistilled by secondary actions, which chemists call ‘rectification.’ ” Thus, Mikhail Lomonosov assumed the formation of petroleum through the prolonged action of mild heat and recognized its migration from its formation sites into porous layers.
According to his theory, plant and animal remains were petrified, and the partially burned bodies gave rise to peat, coal, and amber. Peat originates from swamp vegetation. The origins of coal could be attributed, he thought, to peat bogs via carburization in the absence of air under the influence of moisture, high temperature, and pressure. Lomonosov concluded that peat, coal, and petroleum were the products of the natural refinement of organic matter. “We can be confident that these hot underground materials originate from growing things because of their lightness, for all minerals sink in water, but petroleum floats on it, even though after being underground it has taken up some heavy rocky material.”
Later, the respected Russian scientist and Academician Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945) praised Mikhail Lomonosov’s theory, stating: “I don’t know of a single 18th-century theory that could be compared to these views of Lomonosov.” And even to this day, Lomonosov’s theory of the origins of fossil fuels, developed in the latter half of the 18th century, continues to attract strong advocates and followers.
The First Expeditions of the Russian Academy of Sciences
During the reign of Empress Catherine the Great, the fields of mining and metallurgy continued to grow progressively in Russia, and many Russian scientists, following Lomonosov’s footsteps, made solid contributions, primarily in the organization of the first scientific studies of the country’s territory.
In 1762, Pëtr Rychkov (1712–1777), corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, presented one of the first descriptions of surface oil shows in the Volga region, near the Airyaka River, in his book, Topography of the Orenburg Province [Topografiya Orenburgskoy gubernii]: “Variegated oil shows can be seen, namely blue and yellow, white, black, and green, and on the water’s surface we observe tar-like material that produces a very disgusting smell.”
Johann Schlatter (1708–1768), president of the Mining Board, retired in 1767 for health reasons and his place was taken by Count Musin-Pushkin. Previously, the count had been a prosecutor, a member of the board of Main Mining Plants in Yekaterinburg, and vice president of the Mining Board. He was also known for having written the first domestic instruction manual on methods of extracting coal and of combating mine gases and shaft flooding during the tunneling process. At his direction, the natural scientist Stepan Vonevin was sent to the Caucasus region in 1768, where he compiled a map of the region’s minerals, marking the location of petroleum springs near the Terek River.
In 1768–1769, the noted natural scientist Ivan Lepëkhin (1740–1802) included a detailed description of a series of Volga oil fields in his Travelogue of a Doctor and Academy of Sciences Adjunct Through Various Provinces of the Russian State [Dnevnyye zapiski puteshestviya doktora i Akademii nauk adyunkta po raznym provintsiyam Rossiyskogo gosudarstva]. Regarding surface oil shows in the area of Samarskaya Luka and the Sok River, he wrote: “Everything was already prepared for departure when the Tatars notified us that there was a petroleum spring some 15 versts [10 miles] from their village.... Sergeant Major Kravtsov, the Tatar escorting us, stated that the residents used it to lubricate wheels.... From the village of Yakushkina, directing our wagon train by ordinary road to Sergiyevsk with one student and escort Kravtsov, we went to the so-called petroleum lake, which was some four versts [2.6 miles] from Yakushkina, beyond Shungur.”
Other Russian scientists also offered descriptions of surface oil shows in the Volga region. For instance, in a three-volume study produced after his 1768 expedition, Academician Pëtr Pallas (1741–1811)gave a detailed description of several petroleum springs around the city of Syzran and along the Shungut, Kamyshly, and Sok Rivers: “The waters of one spring empty into the Sok River. The entire low land around the lake consists of petroleum land, so that in summer, holes dug everywhere along the shore contain petroleum.” As to the use of petroleum by the local population, he wrote: “Resident Chuvashes and Tatars not only use this tarry water for gargling and drinking when suffering from oral thrush or boils in the throat, but also zealously collect the petroleum and use it in many cases as a home remedy.”
The report of a 1768–1774 expedition led by Academician Johann Falk also presents a description of petroleum sources in the area of the town of Tetyushi, comparing it to similar oil shows at other sites along the Volga.
Confidential adviser Mikhail Soymonov (1730–1804), a graduate of the Moscow Artillery School and participant in the Nercha Geologic Expedition, did much to advance the development of the Russian mining industry. Appointed in 1771 by the president of the Mining Board, he headed the mining institution for ten years and made immense contributions to the development of Russian industry.
Upon his initiative, Catherine the Great issued a decree on October 21, 1773. The decree established the St. Petersburg Mining School, which laid the foundation for the formation of a Russian system of higher mining engineering education, which in turn had a significant effect on the development of the domestic oil industry. This was Russia’s first technical institution of higher education, and a true embodiment of the great reformer Peter the Great’s idea to train domestic engineers to develop the mining and metallurgical industries.
In 1776, Soymonov was sent abroad “for medical treatment,” and in 1781 he retired temporarily “to improve his health,” and was replaced as president by the senator and confidential adviser Ivan Ryazanov. In 1781, pursuant to the “Institution for the Administration of Provinces of the All-Russian Empire” (1775), the administration of mining was transferred to the Treasury Boards under the control of the Expedition on State Revenue attached to the Governing Senate. In this new configuration, the Mining Board lost its previous importance, and in 1782 the Senate decreed “that the Treasury Boards should not send its revenues to the Mining Board.” In the same year, Catherine the Great published her Manifesto, according to which rights to the land surface were identified with rights to the subsurface, i.e., the rights bestowed by Peter the Great in the Mining Privilege of 1719 were practically eliminated. Later, in 1783, Empress Catherine the Great abolished the Mining Board. This perilous state of affairs in the mining industry lasted 16 years. It is clear now that the decision to administer the mining department through the Treasury Boards was yet another unsuccessful government experiment, one that ultimately caused a decline in the industry.
This misguided experiment ended with Emperor Paul I [Pavel Petrovich] (1754–1801), who assumed the throne in November 1796. With his decree of December 19, 1796, he reinstated the Mining Board, restoring the rights it had enjoyed before 1775, except for the advantages bestowed on nobles by the Noble Charter and Urban Statute. Under this decree, the Ural mining plants were placed under the Mining Board, and the Senate’s Expedition on State Revenue and the Treasury Boards’ Expedition for Mining Affairs were abolished.
Thus, the Mining Board resumed its activities. Actual State Councilor Andrey Nartov (1736–1813), a graduate of the cadet corps and one of the founders of the Free Economic Society, was appointed as its president. The task of “supervising the Mining Board as to mine plants and fields” was assigned to Actual Confidential Councilor and former Mining Board chief Mikhail Soymonov.
In 1798, Aleksandr Alyabyev, a skilled administrator and former Perm Province vice governor, was appointed to replace Andrey Nartov as president of the Mining Board. He tried to return to Ukhta oil fields. On August 2, 1801, the Mining Board reviewed a case concerning sparkling stones and oil fields found by collegiate assessor Pëtr Sumarokov. The grounds for this review was Sumarokov’s letter, in which he wrote, after returning from a trip through Mezen District: “At various locations, I found fields rich in oil... we collected up to 80 poods [9.6 barrels] of oil from several excavated pits, but of that 58 poods [7 barrels] were kept and delivered in winter at my own expense to the city of Mezen, and from there brought to Arkhangelsk with the permission of his Excellency the Governor General Timofey Ivanovich Tugolmin, who was administering the post at the time and at whose directive the oil was tested and found to be of the highest quality.... Through wells, up to a thousand poods [120 barrels], possibly more, can be had from these sources.”19
However, the Mining Board nevertheless limited its review of the matter to the finding of its president, Aleksandr Alyabyev, who proceeded solely from the economic assessment of the volume of oil imported into Russia: “As for oil fields on the left bank of the Ukhta River, I do not have detailed information on local conditions and cannot say how much oil production and transportation will cost, but I do not believe these fields will yield a large profit.... From the schedule compiled at the Mining Board for 1797, 1798, and 1799, which I obtained for communication of this subject, it is clear from the three-year total that only 45 poods 371/2 pounds [1,657.5 pounds] of oil, worth 111 rubles 46 kopecks, is imported annually from foreign lands to Russia, which amounts to two rubles 59 kopecks for each pood [36 pounds] (although foreign oil is always refined and therefore of higher quality than that collected directly from sources). Such small imports demonstrate that it is little used.”20
The Mining Department at the Start of the Steam and Iron Age
At the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with the ascension to the throne of the Emperor Alexander I (1777–1825), anew chapter opened in the history of Russia’s oil industry, full of dramatic events involving many outstanding Russian entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists.
On November 19, 1801, Emperor Alexander I issued a decree to organize the “Main Expedition to Establish Mining Production in Georgia,” which was headed by Count Apollos Musin-Pushkin (1760–1805), a well-known figure active in Russian mining. An honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and a member of the Royal Society of London, he also occupied the position of vice president of the Mining Board for a number of years. As early as June 15, 1797, he sent his “Opinion about the Mining Industry” to the Mining Board, the first analytic report about the state of mining in Russia. It noted the following: “The mining industry in Russia differs noticeably from that established in foreign countries. The reasons for this difference are numerous, and have to do with the climate, the population density, the political relationships of the economy and government trade, as well as the very decrees governing the European nations that have mining.”
In November 1801, the Russian Emperor most graciously allowed Count Musin-Pushkin to set out, at his request, as a traveler to the Caucasus Mountains to prospect for ore deposits. The results of this expedition were used to compile the first mineralogical descriptions of the Caucasus and South Caucasus, which laid the foundation for widespread development of this land’s natural resources.
In the fall of 1802, Emperor Alexander I issued a decree abolishing the boards founded under Peter, creating ministries in their place. Thus, a transition of the mining industry began from collegial administration to undivided administration.
In 1807, the Mining Board was replaced by the Mining Department, which at first was an organizational unit of the Ministry of Commerce. The first director of the Mining Department was Ural region native Gavriil Kachka (1740–1812). Under his authority, the Mining Department directed the Treasury’s plants and mines through district-level governing bodies, controlled the activity of existing private mining and metallurgical enterprises, allocated land sites to new ones, and granted permission to carry out prospecting for mineral resources. At first, the department consisted of two subdivisions: the Mining Council, for preparation of legislation concerning the industry, and the Mining Expedition, whose authority included executive functions. The head of the Mining Expedition had extensive powers, while the Mining Council was a consultative body under the director of the department.
Government reform involved reexamination of the legal framework of mining. In 1804, the head of the Perm Works, Andrey Deryabin (1770–1820), delivered a report to the government in which he proposed to introduce hired labor in mining industry enterprises, restore the freedom of the mining industry, carry out a technical reconstruction of enterprises, and improve working conditions. This report was considered by a special commission chaired by Count Aleksey Vasilyev (1742–1807), minister of finance. A decision was made to write a new mining statute, and although not all of Deryabin’s proposals were incorporated into the statute, this document, which was approved in 1806, became one of the most progressive regulations of the time in Russia. For example, it provided for the replacement of serfs with paid workers for auxiliary plant work. The statute also confirmed freedom of mining for treasury lands, and devoted attention to standardizing the working day of laborers and modernizing mining equipment.
In 1810, the Mining Department was incorporated into the Ministry of Finances and renamed the Department of Mining and Salt Works. An experienced specialist, Chief Mining Captain Andrey Deryabin, was appointed as its director.
Further significant changes were afoot for the Russian mining industry, in particular, the return of the Absheron Peninsula to Russia. The signing of the Treaty of Gulistan between Russia and Persia (1813) ended the Russo-Persian War of 1803–1813, and the agreement returned the territory of the Baku Khanate to the Russian Empire.
At that time, there were 116 hand-dug wells on the Absheron Peninsula producing “black” oil and one producing “white” oil. The total annual production was about 18,000 barrels. The means of oil production at that time were very primitive, with the local population drawing oil from open pits and shallow wells.
It should be noted that by this time a Russian military garrison had already been located in Baku for several years, and the oil fields were leased out to various people to be operated under a tax-farming arrangement. Here again, private initiative at the outset of development resulted in positive results. Evidence of this is provided by a report issued July 30, 1813, by General Nikolay Rtishchev, commander-in-chief of Russian forces in the Caucasus, to St. Petersburg: “Under the tax-farming arrangement for four years, this item, along with others that are very unimportant, at first brought a net sum of 450,000 rubles in banknotes, without any concerns or expenses on the part of the Treasury.... The Treasury income for this production can be considered certain only when an item rich in resources is under a tax-farming arrangement with honest persons.... But if these institutions are directly managed by the Treasury, then besides the necessity of establishing a special staff of civil servants for this and provide their salaries, workers and travel expenses must be supported. Everything will require significant expenses for the Treasury.”21
According to archival sources, in 1813 the Russian government leased out the Baku oil wells under a tax-farming arrangement to Mark Tarumov, province secretary. A second agreement to turn the oil wells over to him from January 1, 1817 through January 1, 1821 was concluded in the summer of 1816.
General Anikita Yartsev (1737–1819), former head of the Ural mining plants, described the Baku fields in his manuscript, History of Russian Mining [Rossiyskaya gornaya istoriya] (1819): “Around Baku there is an unbelievable quantity of mineral oil or petroleum, for 12 versts [7.9 miles] from Baku several villages of the Balakhany neighborhood have 25 open hand-dug oil wells, although the oil springs often do dry up, which necessitates the digging of new wells; however, even the old ones are not quickly refilled, but are carefully left open for a certain time, since sometimes after several months the oil springs usually reappear in them.... The excess is transported to the city of Baku; although there are no special reserve storage depots there, outside the city 15 hand-dug wells have been set up and dug out into the hardest gypsum rock, and lined with stone. The reserve oil is poured into these wells, and kept until it is removed by sellers.”
After the term of the agreement ended, a new tax-farming contract was signed with Tarumov on January 12, 1821 for the following four years, under the previous conditions, for an annual payment of 131,000 rubles. The agreement solidified Tarumov’s right to a monopoly on the sale of this oil: “And if anyone should be discovered, then for a first offense, such a secret seller shall be forced to pay the Treasury 1,000 rubles in banknotes, and the entire quantity of oil shall be confiscated and given to the tax farmer, as property belonging to him. For a second and third secret sale of oil, in addition to such fines to the Treasury and the tax farmer, the secret seller shall be turned over to be dealt with according to the laws.” In addition, the agreement provided the tax farmer with generous resources and rights, including “the work force to dig and repair wells, remove oil from them and transport it to reservoirs, and also the right to prospect for new sources of petroleum on the peninsula.” There is also a very interesting point in the agreement that allowed Tarumov to engage in oil trading with Persia, without paying customs duty.
Despite such favorable conditions, however, his subsequent activity was apparently not profitable, and after his agreement expired not a single person could be found who was interested in or willing to take over the wells for a new term. Therefore, as there was no one who desired to run these fields for the next four years for the amount of the previous tax-farming arrangement, Count Yegor Kankrin (1774–1845), minister of finance, issued a directive placing them under the administration of the Treasury starting January 1, 1825. In connection with this, the minister of finance issued an order creating two special posts: superintendent of oil fields and salt lakes located in Baku province, and an assistant from the ranks of mining civil servants.
The “Description of Treasury buildings located at hand-dug oil wells and cellars that fell under the purview of the Georgian Mining Expedition in January 1825,” compiled by Chief Mining Captain Karpinsky in February 1825, gave precise information “about the condition of the hand-dug oil wells and cellars for the storage of oil; about the quantity of oil in them left by Mr. Tarumov in the fortress of Baku and in the settlements of Binagadi, Surakhany, and Beybati.” In 1825 there were a total of 125 hand-dug oil wells, including: 82 wells of “black” petroleum and 12 Treasury cellars in Balakhany, 5 wells of “black” petroleum in Binagadi, 15 wells of “white” petroleum in Surakhany, and only 16 cellars for storage of “black” oil in Baku itself.
The natural scientist and traveler Karl Eduard von Eichwald (1795— 1876) visited Baku that same year (1825). In his work Reise auf dem Caspischen Meere und Caucasus [Trip to the Caspian Sea and Caucasus], he gave a detailed description of the “eternal flames” and pointed out the properties of combustible gas mixed with air, and also described the hand-dug oil wells: “Wells producing ‘white’ oil are located to the northwest of the village of Surakhany, at a distance of approximately 1.5 versts [1 mile] from it. To recover oil, 16 wells have been set up; to improve their capacity, they are built broad inside, while at the top, on the contrary, they are narrow, not more than a foot in diameter. They are covered tightly with fitted caps, so as not to allow the oil to evaporate. Many hand-dug wells collect ‘white’ oil with water; every well gives an indefinite quantity of oil: more in summer and less in winter.”
A detailed article by St. Petersburg Mining School graduate Nikolay Voskoboynikov, “Mineralogical Description of the Absheron Peninsula, Forming the Baku Khanate,” which appeared in Gorny zhurnal [“Mining Journal”] (1827), provided the first classification of the various forms of Baku petroleum, explained the origin of the so-called “white” petroleum, provided a detailed description of the oil wells and pools (oil pits) in the Absheron Peninsula, and also described existing methods of storing oil and the technology of the work performed to set up oil wells. Voskoboynikov pointed out the following: “The rather thick, black petroleum is found predominantly in the areas of Bakhche and Shubany, where it accumulates in small pits, whose depth is from one-third to one arshin [9.3 to 28 inches]. It is also encountered close to the villages of Balakhany and Binagadi, close to oil wells. This petroleum is of poor quality, making it unusable for lighting without a significant admixture of greenish petroleum; very thick oil of this type is also used for caulking vessels.”
He provides curious information about the sea oil field of local inhabitant Kasim-bek, which consisted of two hand-dug wells: “One of them was located at a distance of nine sazhens [63 feet] from the shore at a depth of one-quarter sazhen [1.75 feet], and the second 15 sazhens [105 feet] from the shore at the same depth. The wooden frameworks of the wells rose half a sazhen [three and a half feet] over the surface of the water.”
Meanwhile, the performance of necessary well repair work, the establishment of a system to account for the oil produced, and a number of other accomplishments of Mining Expedition specialists increased production, and in 1825 more than 28,800 barrels of oil were produced. Despite the increased production, the Treasury received no more than 76,000 rubles for a year. After this, Count Yegor Kankrin, minister of finance, issued an order stating: “Experience with Treasury administration of the fields in 1825 showed that the profit received from them falls far short of the income the Treasury received during the period when they were run under a tax-farming arrangement.”22
Therefore, when entrepreneurs who expressed the desire to run the aforementioned fields under a tax-farming arrangement were found, the oil wells were leased to them for two four-year terms (1826–1834).
However, after these eight years had passed, history again repeated itself: “As no one wanting to run these fields again was found, the fields came under Treasury administration for the following four-year period under a tax-farming arrangement, starting on January 1, 1834.”23
The Projects of Mining Engineer Voskoboynikov
The next significant phase in the development of the oil fields in the Absheron Peninsula is inextricably connected with the fruitful activity of the talented mining engineer Nikolay Voskoboynikov (1803–1861).
Starting January 1, 1834, Emperor Nicholas I (1796–1855) issued a decree militarizing the Mining Department as the Corps of Mining Engineers. The Corps was headed by the minister of finance himself, Yegor Kankrin (1774–1845). It was at this time that the term “mining engineer” first appeared in Russia. Moreover, the post of chief of staff, responsible for daily operational management of the department, was created. The first person appointed chief of staff of the Corps of Mining Engineers was Major General Konstantin Chevkin (1802–1875).
On January 1, 1834, Corps of Mining Engineers Major Voskoboynikov was appointed director of the Baku and Shirvan oil and salt fields. An order of the Mining Department defined his responsibilities as seeing to it that the hand-dug oil wells were correctly run, and that the oil was produced and delivered to Baku and the near banks of the Kura River, the designated places for the sale of oil. With his new appointment, mining engineer Voskoboynikov was granted the opportunity to realize his innovative ideas concerning the development and improvement of the oil business.
First and foremost, his attention was focused on the technology of setting up hand-dug oil wells. At that time, the existing procedure for setting up oil wells involved first excavating a pit resembling an inverted cone all the way down to the oil stratum. At least 7 terraces averaging 31.5 feet in depth were made on the sides of the pit. The average volume of earth taken out of such a well was around 2,317 cubic feet. The walls of deep wells were reinforced from the very bottom to the surface by a wooden framework and boards. The lower courses of the well had openings made in them to allow the inflow of petroleum.
In an effort to increase the efficiency of the work, Major Voskoboynikov proposed that access be gained to the oil stratum by constructing shafts, instead of by digging a large-diameter pit on the surface. The shaft was divided in half by a partition. Over the head of the shaft, a raised tubular structure made of boards was set up on one side to increase the circulation of air in the shaft. This proposal significantly reduced the volume of earthmoving work required to set up oil wells.
Clogging presented a serious problem in operating oil wells. To clean a well, a man was lowered on a rope, and he collected dirt into a bucket using his hands. As a rule, the lack of air greatly limited the time a worker could remain in the well. In 1835, mining engineer Voskoboynikov proposed constructing a canvas ventilator to deliver fresh air into the oil well to facilitate cleaning and repair work. Later, he introduced an improved individual device: a breathing apparatus consisting of an artificial nose and a flexible tube fastened to it. Use of this apparatus allowed for the successful cleaning of a narrow and curved well known as “Ali-Bek,” which had never been cleaned before.
The advancements made during Nikolay Voskoboynikov’s initial period of work resulted in positive growth: in just the first two years of his management of the fields (1834–1835), oil production increased to 42,355 barrels (compared with 41,562 barrels in 1833).
However, storing, receiving, and delivering oil still presented an extremely acute problem in the fields. Storing oil in earthen cellars and open oil pits resulted in great losses as a consequence of significant evaporation, leakage through various openings in cellar and pit walls, and additional losses from bucket spillage when workers carried them by hand.
In 1836–1837, Nikolay Voskoboynikov reorganized the entire oil storage and delivery system in Baku and Balakhany on the basis of his own design. Five Balakhany oil cellars with a total capacity of more than 14,650 barrels were connected by inclined stone canals. On one side, a building was constructed to receive oil removed from the wells. Inside it, four stone reservoirs were set up, each with a capacity of three barrels, from which the oil was released along an inclined canal into a settling reservoir. Once the oil had settled, it was poured into an inclined canal, along which it flowed by gravity into cellars for storage or into a delivery reservoir. Stone reservoirs containing copper kettles having three or four openings were set up along the length of the canal opposite the cellars. When the copper kettles were turned, oil flowed through the openings along the branches of the canal into the cellar or into delivery reservoirs. The inclined stone canal around the oil delivery building ended in a copper pipe, through which oil flowed into a copper kettle. The copper kettle could be turned, and had a device that could direct oil among six pipes into wooden barrels having a capacity of 3.4 barrels each.
In the same way, inclined stone canals connected nine cellars in Baku with a total volume of more than 6,125 barrels. On one side of these cellars there was a building for receiving oil transported from the fields. This building housed copper reservoirs, each with a capacity of 3.4 barrels, and reservoirs for oil settling. After settling, the oil flowed along an inclined stone canal into storage cellars or to the building for wholesale and retail delivery. Wholesale delivery was carried out from three reservoirs, and retail delivery was carried out from one reservoir, which was equipped with copper faucets and held 72 barrels. The reorganization of the system for receiving, storing, and delivering oil significantly reduced oil losses and created an orderly system to account for and store it. The quantity of oil sold significantly increased, since it could be stored in special containers and delivered in any weather. For example, the amount of oil sold in Baku in December 1837 was 3,603 barrels, while around 1,200 barrels were sold per month before the reorganization of the oil facilities. In addition, there was a significant reduction in the number of workers, and the work of draining and filling oil was made easier.
Another bottleneck in the Baku fields was the process used to excavate the oil, which was done by hand in leather buckets, or by using horses for deep wells. Of course, such methods were not very productive. In 1839, the Main Administration of the South Caucasus considered Major Voskoboynikov’s proposal to increase the production of oil from hand-dug oil wells by using pumps. However, this plan was not accepted, because piston devices of sufficient output were not yet available.
Yet another of the major’s innovative proposals concerned the problem of shipping oil by sea. In order to load vessels transporting oil via the Caspian Sea, field director Voskoboynikov proposed building “a pier on piles” on the shore and running a “separable railway” to it from the Baku cellars. Setting up such an oil terminal would allow for quick loading of oil onto vessels. But the Caspian Treasury Office also found this plan hare-brained, and rejected it.
The First Refinery on the Absheron Peninsula
Starting in mid-1834, mining engineer Voskoboynikov began experiments involving the distillation of “light” Surakhany and “heavy” Balakhany oil, and the use of the resulting products for lighting. The resulting distillation products, a transparent and colorless oil essence and a greenish-yellow oil essence, burned without soot, and produced a light brighter than that of candles.
At the end of the summer of 1834, Nikolay Voskoboynikov submitted a report to General G. V. Rozen, head commander of affairs in Georgia, titled “Refinement of White Oil at the Baku and Shirvan Fields Using a Distillation Apparatus, and Preparation of Iron Drums for Storage of Same.” He emphasized that “it would be useful to refine it by distillation on site, which would cost the Treasury very little, for the ‘white’ oil wells themselves have natural fires close to them; the advantage of the produced refined oil is that this oil can be sold at a high price and in large quantity.”
The Scholarly Committee of the Mining Engineers Corps approved Major Voskoboynikov’s report on November 14, 1834. Academician Germain Henri Hess, member of the Department of Manufacturing, likewise gave a positive review of Voskoboynikov’s report, proposing that “1) Chemists separate both ‘white’ and ‘black’ petroleum, and determine the properties both of the components and of the fractions obtained from it, and publish such information. 2) At the same time, to accelerate development of its sale, determine if it could be used to prepare varnishes for cast iron and iron and, in general, for all needs for which turpentine is used, and also to produce the carbon black that is put into printing ink, and does ‘black’ petroleum differ from the tar produced from coal, and finally, is it possible to collect the soot coming from the natural petroleum fires, which could be used as a dye for tanneries.”
Further instruction came on January 24, 1835 from an order signed by Count Yegor Kankrin, minister of finance, for Mining Engineer Voskoboynikov, Director of Baku and Shirvan oil and salt fields, regarding “the preparation at the Baku mineral fields of up to 1,000 poods [120 barrels] of refined oil, to be sent to Russia via Astrakhan... and to report to the Treasury Expedition about his actions in this case for its faster fulfillment, to have appropriate observation on his part.”
The Georgian Treasury Expedition’s Report No. 6849 of November 10, 1837, to the Department of Mining and Salt Works of the Ministry of Finance contains interesting details about the plan for the Balakhany factory. It also mentions Report No. 322 of June 12, 1837 by Mining Engineer Voskoboynikov, in which he states that, 1) Having finished his work setting up the Baku reservoirs, which required his continual presence in Baku, he would soon set off for the villages of Balakhany and Surakhany to set up distillation apparatus there to produce “white” oil from “black;” 2) All supplies necessary for this purpose—namely, 450 sheets of 56-inch iron weighing 5,789 pounds, 144 pounds of lead, 144 pounds of ammonium chloride, and 288 pounds of tin—had already been sent to him by Astrakhan second guild merchant Solodovnikov; 3) At his request Baku Commandant Lieutenant Colonel Luzanov had informed him of the assignment to him of one mechanic, two blacksmiths, and two furnace service people from Georgian Line Battalion No. 8 to set up the distillation apparatus, iron drums, and furnaces. He added that to produce “white” oil from “black” oil he had devised a new apparatus presenting all the benefits for protecting the remains of “black” oil from changes in its quality. Moreover, he had discovered natural fires around the village of Balakhany, which could be used to operate several pieces of distillation apparatus, significantly reducing expenses involved in distilling “white” oil; he would present a description and drawings of the newly devised distillation apparatus to bring them into operation on a larger scale.
Detailed information about the technical equipment and facilities at the Balakhany refinery is contained in the drawings and description preserved in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) in St. Petersburg. They show that the refinery’s main building contained quadrangular distillation kettles made of roofing iron. Each kettle consisted of two parts. The upper part of the kettle tightly capped the lower part and had two pipes attached to it to remove vapors to receiving vessels. Initially, water was poured into the kettle through a pipe inserted into an opening in the upper part of the kettle; afterward, oil was poured onto the surface of the water through the pipe. The kettles were supported by iron bars and were embedded in the furnace. Pipes passed through reservoirs containing cooling water. The receiving vessel for distilled oil was an iron cylinder immersed in a circular iron vat filled with water. The oil in the kettles was heated using natural gas drawn from nearby gas sources and collected in special reservoirs, and then fed through pipes to burners.
Incidentally, this was Russia’s first experience with the industrial use of natural gas. The gas burner was made of an iron pipe with small openings on the top. The combustion products passed through a canal to a chimney, heating a water-filled copper tub along the way. Water from the tub was poured into the kettle to keep the oil from overheating.
At the refinery, the light Surakhany oil yielded 83.9% lighting distillate, 12.5% residue, and 3.6% was lost to evaporation. The heavy Balakhany oil yielded only 10% distillation product and 85% residue, and 5% was lost.
As it turned out, Voskoboynikov’s Balakhany refinery was in operation for only a very short time: from November 1837 through August 1838. Over nine months, it produced more than 108 barrels of lamp oil, which was sent to Astrakhan. But since the oil distillation product did not initially undergo further chemical processing (refining), the petroleum acids present in the distillate caused corrosion of the walls of iron barrels when it was stored and transported, which in turn changed the product’s color and significantly degraded its combustion properties. The large production expenses and high cost of transportation of the finished product made the refinery unprofitable. The refinery’s numerous misfortunes also reflected the absence of Major Voskoboynikov, who was removed from his post without grounds and was under investigation after being denounced by adversaries.
The new director of the Absheron oil fields appointed by the Mining Department opted out of managing the oil distillation work, and by the beginning of 1839 the Balakhany refinery ceased to exist. However, the short-lived distillation work of the refinery was not in vain: the series of technical solutions devised by mining engineer Nikolay Voskoboynikov and put into practice at the refinery had a substantial influence on all subsequent developments in refining in Russia.
On Petroleum Quitrent
Along with the development of the fields on the Absheron Peninsula, signs of the emerging oil business also started to appear in the North Caucasus. One of the first to announce the presence of oil sources in the North Caucasus at the beginning of the 18th century was the Russian geographer and cartographer Ivan Kirillov (1689–1737). Author of the first systematic and economic geographical description of Russia, The Flourishing Condition of the Russian State [Tsvetushcheye sostoyaniye Vserossiyskogo gosudarstva] (1727), he reported that “between the small towns of Shadrino and Chervlenoe, on the other side of the Terek River, there are oil wells; however, there is no oil industry on them.”
Russian archives contain documents suggesting that Cossacks and local inhabitants collected and used oil from the Braguny and Chervlenoe wells. For example, the description of the archive of the Kizlyar commandant mentions two files: “Delivery of Oil on Cossack Kayuks” (1743) and “Release of Cossacks to the Chervlenoe Wells to Collect Petroleum” (1756).
Russian researcher Stepan Vonevin’s report of September 15, 1768 noted that: “It is possible to see the Braguny hot springs and the Chervlenoe hand-dug oil wells extending up to the edge of these mountain ranges, which begin almost from the mouth of the Sunzha River and bend to the west up along the Terek, almost parallel to it.”
In 1770, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences had this region explored by aide-de-camp Johann Anton Güldenstädt (1745–1781), who later became president of the Free Economic Society (VEO). In his book Reisen durch Russland [Travels through Russia], characterizing the territory located not far from the village of Mamakay-Yurt, he wrote: “Around 10 versts [6.6 miles] to the south of the Pavlovskay a greenhouse there is an oil spring... gushing out of the mountains lying opposite the greenhouse in two places at a distance of 100 paces; this so-called petroleum is a black, thick, and natural mineral oil, or mineral tar. In the first spring there is a little of this tar, and in the last two, several barrels of it are produced every year for lubricating wheels.”
At the beginning of the 19th century these oil-bearing areas were the property of Prince Turlov, and in 1811 the Mozdok Cossack Regiment took control of these oil wells under a tax-farming arrangement. However, after the Grozny fortress was built (1818) and the Caucasus Cossack Line Forces were formed, the oil sources came to be administered by its leaders, who started to lease the wells out to various entrepreneurs under a tax-farming arrangement. Crude oil was used instead of tar; distilled oil was sold to pharmacies as a medicine, for cleaning clothing, and for producing waterproof fabrics.
The beginning of the 1820s was marked by a significant event that became an important landmark in the history of the domestic oil business. For more than two decades, primary processing of oil had been carried out in the North Caucasus by the brothers Vasily, Gerasim, and Makar Dubinin, who were serfs of Countess Panina from the village of Nizhny Landekh, Gorokhovets District, Vladimir Province. Their landowner had imposed on them the condition of paying a considerable monetary quitrent, so they arrived in this restless region in search of a source of funds.
At first they were engaged in small-scale trading. In 1823 they decided to apply their experience in tar distillation and turpentine production, so they built a one-still refinery in the region of the village of Akki-Yurt, not far from the city of Mozdok. Its construction involved using the schematic diagram of a furnace for production of pitch and turpentine. Using oil from the wells of the Voznesensk field as raw material, this refinery carried out the primary distillation of oil with a periodic cycle, producing “white” oil (unrefined kerosene distillate), which they offered as a therapeutic agent and also as one of the components of lighting material for street lights in Stavropol and other population centers of the North Caucasus.
A description of their refinery has survived: “An iron still is cemented in the top of a brick furnace, and 40 buckets of ‘black’ oil are poured into this still at a time. Once the ‘black’ oil has been poured into the still, a copper cover is put on it. A copper pipe passes from the cover through a wooden tub filled with water and makes one turn in the tub. The tub has a wooden bucket placed next to it against the pipe. The brick furnace is built with a windbox, and when it is fired at the base, oil from the still is drawn through the water into the pipe, where it is refined, producing ‘white’ oil, which flows out through the pipe into the bucket; 16 buckets of it is produced from 40 buckets of ‘black’ oil.”
The family quitrent enterprise of the Dubinin brothers operated for more than 20 years. However, since they remained serfs and as such were required to pay their landowner a large monetary quitrent, they could not adequately develop their production. In addition, intensifying market competition exacerbated their financial situation.
On March 17, 1844, the Dubinin brothers sent a petition for consideration to Colonel Prints, head of the Pyatigorsk District. They wrote: “We take the liberty to explain to the high authorities that we wished to expand the oil industry and trade here and in Russia to a greater extent, but we do not have sufficient capital to do this. Therefore, we most humbly request, in reward of our 20 years of labor and in order to promote the development of domestic oil trade of Russian production, to allow the delivery to us of sixty barrels of black oil from Treasury sources located near the Grozny fortress, every year for five years, without monetary payment, with permission for us to export freely from the Caucasus and Russia and to sell, at an unrestricted price, both the processed white and black oil, which is the residue after it is boiled down. If it is impossible to deliver the oil to us without monetary payment, then we ask for monetary assistance from the Treasury in the amount of 7,000 rubles in silver.”
Two years passed without a favorable response to their request, so on August 9, 1846 they sent a new petition to Count Mikhail Vorontsov, viceroy of the Caucasus: “Most Excellent Prince! In industrial matters, wide distribution and especially activity involving the manufacture of our own domestic products is a national treasure, which is the strength of the state, and examples convince us that in all actions, of whatever type they might be, incentives or rewards double the strength and spirit to overcome great new obstacles, and incentives revive tired labor.... We, the Dubinin family, have been producing oil for more than 20 years amid incessant danger from enemy attacks by mountain peoples, and have made continuous efforts to please the government.”
The viceroy of the Caucasus awarded the head of the family, Vasily Dubinin, the medal “For usefulness” on a Vladimirov ribbon, but the brothers still did not receive financial support from the authorities. Shortly thereafter, a raid on Akki-Yurt by a detachment of mountain dwellers from the formations of Imam Shamil put a definitive end to the more than 20-year history of the Dubinin brothers’ quitrent enterprise.
In their appeals to the authorities, the Dubinin family emphasized that: “We have discovered by our efforts a method of refining petroleum of natural black color into white. Before us, no one here knew such a method of refining, and we did not keep it secret for only our own benefit, but to promote the common good we quickly disclosed it to all inhabitants of the city of Mozdok, which is not far from where the sources are located, and selflessly taught it to other manufacturers.”
Despite the end of the Dubinin brothers’ enterprise, their example really did spread in the North Caucasus. The historical literature lists the names of entrepreneurs who followed their methods: N. Avdyunin, V. Shvetsov, and the merchant Sukhorukov, among others.
At the beginning of the 1830s, researcher Rikhard German (1805— 1879), traveling all over the Caucasus to study the properties of mineral sources, wrote in his work “The Large Asphalt Stratum in Minor Chechnya” that “10 versts [6.6 miles] from the fortress rises a group of hills consisting of marl. In the basin located among these hills there is an oil source: this is a pit, faced on the inside with a wooden framework and filled with water; it contains parts of iron (II) sulfate and thick oil floats on top of this water; this liquid continually releases hydrocarbon gas. This source gives 20 buckets of oil per day, from which pure mineral oil is prepared in a building built close to the source. The asphalt remaining from distillation is used on site in place of fuel for the distillation apparatus.”
It is possible that this refining company belonged to the partnership of Nikolay Avdyunin, a third guild merchant from Mozdok, who concluded a three-year tax-farming arrangement in 1833 on hand-dug oil wells close to the Grozny fortress. This company subsequently fell into other hands. Vasily Shvetsov, the new tax farmer, wrote the following in his petition: “General demand and high prices have made many, including Mozdok merchant Avdyukin, the former tax farmer, with his company, study the production of petroleum according to the method indicated by the Dubinins. When the sources came under my administration, I also paid attention to this branch of industry, acquired by the same method up to 1,000 poods [120 barrels] of ‘white’ oil and, in the hope of deriving significant benefits, sent the entire prepared quantity to Moscow in 1837, but found the prices of it were already from 24 to 27 rubles in banknotes.”
Russia’s First Asphalt Plant
Another region that provided a certain impetus to the development of the oil business in post-reform Russia was the Crimean Peninsula.
At the end of the 17th century, the Russian government, striving to ensure the safety of the southern areas and gain a window onto the Black Sea, began a struggle to take control of this strategic region. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, Russian forces took control of the Crimea and under an agreement with Khan Sahib Giray (1772) and the Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarca (1774), the Crimean Khanate was declared independent of Turkey and came under the protection of the Russian Empire.
In 1783 the Crimea was annexed to Russia and in 1797–1802 the territory of the peninsula became part of the Novorossiya Province. On October 8, 1802, Alexander I issued a decree dividing the Novorossiya Province into three Russian provinces: Nikolayev, Yekaterinoslav, and Tavrich. According to this decree, “Tavrich Province consists of seven districts, comprising: Simferopol, or Ak-Mechet, Perekop, the former Phanagoria, renamed Tmutarakan, which is the name that the island of Taman bore in Old Russia, and with the addition to the district of seven lands of the Black Sea force, Feodosiya (Kefiya) and Yevpatoriya (Kozlov), and finally, beyond Perekop, Dnepr and Melitopol Provinces. Simferopol is assigned the capital of this province.”
The first geologic studies of the Crimean Peninsula territory were carried out in 1823 by the Russian surveyor Kozin. Among other things, he named and marked the basic sites of surface oil shows on the peninsula.
It is noteworthy that this is also exactly the same place where the first successful attempt was made in 1838 to set up domestic asphalt production in Russia. It was due to three persons: Mikhail Vorontsov, governor general of Novorossiya; Zakhar Kherkheulidze, town governor of Kerch; and Karl Byurno, colonel of engineers.
In 1823, Count Mikhail Vorontsov (1782–1856) was appointed governor general of Novorossiya and plenipotentiary viceroy of Bessarabia. His efforts to develop industry and agriculture and improve the cities of the region were highly valued by his contemporaries. Suffice to say that before his arrival in Odessa, the city had no paved roadways or sidewalks. His name is also associated with the establishment of domestic steam navigation on the Black Sea and the first experiments with municipal street lighting using illuminating gas.
Zakhar Kherkheulidze (1798–1856), town governor of Kerch, was also an extremely noteworthy person. On January 14, 1833, at the suggestion of Governor General Vorontsov, he was appointed town governor of Kerch and Yeni-Kale, and served as the head of the city for a full 17 years. This period became a sort of “Age of Kherkheulidze.” In 1830–1840, a general plan for the construction of Kerch was completed, and the town governor was responsible for realizing the brilliant ideas of municipal architect Aleksandr Digbi, who built a whole series of marvelous buildings. During this period, the city center acquired its definitive form, the architectural highlight of which was Mount Mithridat. Many blocks of the city were also built, as well as a series of municipal squares. In addition, the Melek-Chesme River was straightened by a canal and the embankment was lined with stone; the slope of Mithridat had trees planted on it, forming a beautiful boulevard; the water supply system was improved, and new fountains were built. A series of industrial companies were also founded in the city. Based on his enthusiasm for improving the region’s infrastructure, it is not surprising that Kherkheulidze gave his full support to Colonel Byurno’s proposal to improve the city’s streets and build the country’s first asphalt plant.
A Frenchman by nationality, Karl Byurno (1796–1858) joined the Russian army in 1820 in the rank of second lieutenant of engineering forces. Over nine years of service, he was promoted to the rank of colonel of engineers, took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, and was awarded several medals. Starting in 1835, construction on the Black Sea coastline fortifications in the Caucasus began based on his plans. While this work was being done, he visited the Kerch Peninsula, where he was able to tour regions with surface oil shows and natural asphalt.
In the spring of 1838, Karl Byurno visited Paris, where he had the opportunity to familiarize himself with the city, including its experience in the use of asphalt in road construction. Since he directed the construction of defensive buildings, he was naturally aware of the high cost involved in shipping Seyssel asphalt from France to Russia, and instead proposed establishing domestic asphalt production.
His memorandum was fully endorsed by Governor General Mikhail Vorontsov, who instructed junior shift foreman Kulshin, a mining civil servant, to investigate petroleum and asphalt deposits in Kerch. The results of this expedition turned out to be promising, and in August 1838, Colonel Byurno was granted 12,000 rubles to build an asphalt plant close to the petroleum sources between Yeni-Kale and the Yeni-Kale lighthouse, with property rights to it for 12 years.
The construction work was performed in a rather short period of time. At the plant, one distillation still was set up with a capacity of 50 buckets. The processing of Kerch petroleum produced equal volumes of kerosene distillate and a thick residue called maltha. An apparatus was set up on the plant grounds to crush asphalt rock—so-called grease rock— which was screened and placed, along with the maltha, into two kettles, each having a capacity of 60 buckets. Gravel was then added to the heated asphalt compound. The asphalt concrete resulting from this process was poured using manual scoops into quadrangular cast iron molds lubricated with oil. The finished asphalt concrete slabs weighed around 72 pounds.
In 1839, under the supervision of Colonel Byurno, a number of streets and sidewalks in Odessa and Kerch were successfully paved with asphalt. Use of asphalt concrete to pave the terraces and landings of the stairs leading up Mount Mithridat turned out to be a successful solution.
The road improvement work had a substantial influence on the appearance of the cities of the Black Sea coastal region, and was given high marks by Governor General Mikhail Vorontsov and the local population.
In 1843, in connection with a new appointment, Colonel of Engineers Karl Byurno transferred management of the asphalt plant to the Kerch municipal authorities and left the peninsula. In 1844, he was promoted to major general and appointed inspector of engineering forces of the Caucasus Army.
The plant he had founded operated successfully for almost another twelve years, right to the beginning of the Crimean War. In 1854, it produced around 36 tons of asphalt concrete. However, during military operations it was destroyed by British artillery. Afterwards, for a variety of reasons, no real attempts were made to restore asphalt production on the Kerch Peninsula for several decades.
Entangled in the Tax-Farming System
Meanwhile, back on the Absheron Peninsula the scale of oil production in the final years of the first half of the 19th century can be judged on the basis of a memorandum written in 1842 by the Caspian Office of State Properties of the Ministry of State Properties. It indicated that there were 136 wells on the entire Absheron Peninsula, the annual production of which was up to 27,620 barrels of oil, and more of this oil was exported to Persia than to Russia.
Subsequently, a certain growth in the number of wells also increased annual oil production, up to the level of a maximum of 36,025 barrels. With small fluctuations, this level was maintained for 10 years, and then oil production began to fall starting in 1847, and in 1849 a total of only 30,682 barrels of oil were produced.
Striving to correct the situation, the administration of the South Caucasus attempted to introduce a new method of oil production by means of drilling wells. On April 30, 1845, Fëdor Vronchenko (1780–1854), minister of finance, directed the Caspian Treasury Office to grant 1,000 rubles in silver and commissioned Major of Mining Corps of Engineers Alekseyev, who was the director of the Baku and Shirvan oil and salt fields, to perform manual exploratory drilling for petroleum in the region of Bibiheybet. This work was carried out for several years; finally, on July 14, 1848, the most illustrious Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, viceroy of the Caucasus, reported to St. Petersburg that a well containing petroleum had been drilled at Bibiheybet. However, since the flow of petroleum was small and had no industrial value, this well was soon forgotten.
Such weak production and financial results of Treasury administration of the fields on the Absheron Peninsula prompted the Russian government to return to the tried and true method of tax farming to extract income from the oil industry. On June 9, 1849, at the initiative of Minister of Finance Fëdor Vronchenko, a decree was issued by the emperor ordering the return of oil field operations to a tax-farming arrangement.
Starting on April 15, 1850, taxation of the oil fields was farmed out to three entrepreneurs—Kukudzhanov, Babanosov, and Ter-Gukasov—who jointly undertook a series of measures to increase the number of wells to 218 over the next ten years.
It is very noteworthy that, in 1851, samples of “white” and “black” Absheron oil at the disposal of Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, viceroy of the Caucasus, were sent to the Great Exhibition in London, where they found a worthy place in the Russian section of the exhibit.
Nevertheless, by the 1860s it was already readily apparent that the tax-farming system of operating Treasury oil lands was both faulty and obsolete, and its elimination was called for by the interests of both the oil industry and the Treasury, which received unrealistically low income under the tax-farming system.
Speaking about the urgency of eliminating the tax-farming system, the renowned Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834–1907) wrote: “The obstacles to the oil business essentially involve the operation of oil sources. The petroleum sources of the Caucasus are given to tax farmers for petroleum. There is no advantage for them, having a short-term tax-farming arrangement, to engage in major and troublesome work, to spend capital on prospecting and exploratory drilling, to dig nine wells in order that the tenth would repay all their expenses. This tenth one might come at a time when the tax-farming arrangement ends, or when its holder is no longer able to enjoy the fruits of his entrepreneurship for a long time, given the certain degree of risk that is unavoidable in the oil business. The tax-farming system paralyzes oil development, and consequently the entire oil business.”24
Pennsylvania Kerosene in Russia
The presence of the tax-farming system on Russian oil fields led to a paradoxical phenomenon: although the country had enormous hydrocarbon reserves, at the beginning of the 1860s the streets of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities were illuminated by lamps that used kerosene from the US.
In 1862, the St. Petersburg City Council acknowledged that in light of the substantial financial costs, the existing alcohol and oil street lighting was unfavorable for the city, and announced a competition to install a new type of lighting.
Commercial proposals were soon received from three bidders: American citizen Laszlo Sandor, director of the Mineral Lighting Company, a merchant named Bregman, and the Noble & Co. trading house.
A commission of six members of the council was set up to perform tests. The tests began on January 10, 1863. Observation of the function of the new lamps continued until May 1 of the same year, when the city council announced the winner of the competition to be Laszlo Sandor, who incidentally had offered the lowest installation price: 34 rubles per large lamp and 29 rubles per small lamp.
A contract was signed with him to set up mineral oil lighting for two lighting periods: from August 1, 1863 to May 1, 1865. Installation of the new type of lighting did not cost much: The old hand carts with metal boxes, ladders and portable lanterns came under the control of the American entrepreneur and the oil and alcohol street lamps were converted into new ones. By the evening of August 1, 1863, 6,000 kerosene lamps were already burning in St. Petersburg, and soon their number reached 7,200.
In an attempt to keep up with the capital, in the autumn of 1863 the Moscow City Council also announced a competition for the installation of kerosene street lighting. The contract to install 2,200 kerosene lamps was won by F. Boital. By May 1, 1865, Moscow was lighted exclusively by kerosene. Before long, the number of kerosene lamps increased to 9,310; half-inch wicks were used in them at first, with one-inch wicks introduced later, in 1875.
The appearance and widespread use of kerosene as a new street-lighting material in both the capital and other Russian cities was due to a number of factors: it burned more brightly and evenly; its luminosity exceeded that of hempseed oil and of an alcohol/turpentine mixture; and above all, it was cheaper. A skillful marketing tactic by the American companies, initially involving giving customers low-priced kerosene lamps free of charge, also played an important role.
The recollections of 19th century contemporaries frequently mention the installation of kerosene street lighting with enthusiasm. For example, the popular writer Nikolay Davydov (1848–1920) reminisced that “Lighting with the new kerosene lamps seemed magnificent after oil lighting; without a doubt things became more lively on the streets, and the crowd itself dressed more colorfully and the clothes were better selected.”
The example of the organization of kerosene lighting in the remote provincial city of Petrozavodsk is also instructive. In 1864, the Petrozavodsk City Council commissioned its members to find a master capable of converting 41 oil lamps “in order to light with kerosene,” and also to fix “the ladders for lighting lamps.” Master Popov did this work for 143 rubles, and from that time onward, kerosene lighting became customary for city-dwellers.
In addition to communal services, kerosene lighting became widespread in railroad and water transportation, at various cultural, educational, and medical institutions, and in small factories and workshops. It also played a key role in the development of telegraph communication in Russia in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1852, a telegraph line was run between St. Petersburg and Oranienbaum, and then between St. Petersburg and Moscow, followed by lines linking Moscow–Kiev– Odessa, St. Petersburg–Tallinn–Helsinki, and also from Kaunas to the Prussian border. After that, the construction of telegraph lines resumed to the west and the east. The normal work of telegraph station personnel, who work around the clock, would not have been possible without the high-quality lighting provided by kerosene lamps.
Lighting Oil of the Transcaspian Trading Partnership
For the oil fields of the Absheron Peninsula, the year 1859 was noteworthy for two events. First, the Ministry of Finance had concluded a new tax-farming agreement for oil wells with the entrepreneur Ter-Gukasov. And second, the refinery of the Transcaspian Trading Partnership, located in Surakhany (not far from the ancient temple of the fire worshippers), had begun production.
The principal credit for creating the Partnership and the refinery belonged to the entrepreneur Vasily Kokorev (1817–1889), who was drawn into the oil business as a result of the persistent efforts of the diplomat and lawyer Nikolay Tornau (1812–1882), an advocate of intensifying Russian influence in Persia through the broad development of economic ties. Baron Tornau was known in Russia as a brilliant Orientalist and was the author of a number of studies on the Islamic legal code, including the monograph Muslim Law [Musulmanskoye pravo] (1866). He subsequently became a senator and member of the State Council.
A letter dated August 30, 1857, from State Secretary Vladimir Butkov to Prince Baryatinsky, viceroy of the Caucasus, contains the following lines: “In the papers sent you will find a good thing: this is Kokorev’s founding of a company to trade with Astarabad. I am sorry that we did not ask your opinion about this matter.”
A letter dated November 16, 1857, from Count Dmitry Milyutin to Prince Baryatinsky, viceroy of the Caucasus, contains another reference to this company: “as for Kokorev’s company, your Highness probably received the letter of Baron Tornau providing notification of the final organization of the management of this partnership.”
Along with Vasily Kokorev and Nikolay Tornau, Actual State Councilor Nikolay Novoselsky and merchants Ivan Mamontov and Pëtr Medyntsev also became founders of the Transcaspian Trading Partnership. Afterward, they were joined by the Moscow entrepreneur Pëtr Gubonin (1825–1894).
To start with, the Partnership purchased 33 acres of land in Surakhany, near Baku. The initial idea of the founders was to construct a refinery to produce lighting material (photogen) made from kir (a mineral impregnated with weathered petroleum). The plan for this refinery was presented by Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), who was a professor at the University of Munich and a foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The necessary equipment was purchased in Germany, including cast iron retorts intended for dry distillation of kir, and spherical kettles having a capacity of 12 barrels each for secondary distillation of the distillate. They were assembled under the direction of German chemist E. Moldenhauer. However, the distillation technology for kir, which contained only up to 20% lamp oils, yielded very small volumes of finished product.
Vasily Kokorev had a good acquaintance, Mikhail Pogodin (1800— 1875), an Academy member who had taught for a long time at Moscow University, from whom he learned about work on investigating organic substances being carried out by Vasily (Wilhelm) Eichler, a Master of Pharmacy of the university, and in 1860, Kokorev invited him to the Surakhany refinery to consult.
At first, the suggestions made by the chemist Eichler perplexed Vasily Kokorev, since Eichler was proposing some radical changes, namely: giving up the use of kir and switching immediately to the processing of crude oil, and making corresponding changes in the production process and equipment. These suggestions once again called for significant financial investments. All Kokorev’s new business initiatives contained elements of significant risk, and the Surakhany refinery was no exception. Instead of German cast iron retorts, 17 iron batch-operation stills were set up, 12 of which had a capacity of 36 barrels each, and the remaining five of which had a capacity of 9.6 barrels each. The spherical kettles were replaced by cylindrical ones, which provided more uniform heating of the oil. The refinery was fueled by natural gas, of which there were oil shows right on the grounds of the refinery. For the first time, a production process employed an alkaline solution for refining lighting material. After these changes were made, the yield of finished product after distillation of Balakhany well oil was around 25–30% instead of the former 15%. Now 108 pounds of crude oil yielded 36 pounds of lighting material, which was given the new name “fotonaftil,” or in a poetic translation into Russian: “petroleum light.”
Despite the measures taken, the results of the production activity did not satisfy the founders. There was no way to make the refinery profitable, and the quality of the lighting material still left much to be desired. Anew approach was needed to assess the state of refining and its prospects.
This time, Vasily Kokorev decided to turn for help to the scientific world of St. Petersburg, whose luminaries included the well-known chemists Aleksandr Voskresensky, Nikolay Zinin, Nikolay Sokolov, and Fëdor Ilish. Vasily Kokorev should be given credit for his intuition in taking the very unexpected step of inviting Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834–1907), a private docent of chemistry at the St. Petersburg University, to Surakhany, even though this scholar was young (29 years of age) and had not yet even done any work in the area of petroleum research. All the same, he had already written a course called Organic Chemistry [Organicheskaya khimiya] (1861), received the Demidov Prize, and had successfully edited and translated Johannes Rudolf von Wagner’s Handbuch der chemischen Technologie [Handbook of Chemical Technology], or as contemporaries called it: “the first encyclopedia of chemical engineering.”
Here is what the great scientist himself later wrote about this experience: “In 1863, V.A. Kokorev invited me, then serving as a senior lecturer at the St. Petersburg University, to travel to Baku and examine the entire operation and decide how to make the refinery profitable, and if that was not possible, then to close it.... At that time, in 1863, I was in Baku for the first time. This was how I first became familiar with the oil business.”25
On August 20, 1863, the scientist left St. Petersburg, arriving in Baku at the beginning of September 1863. Dmitry Mendeleyev spent a total of only 20 days on the Absheron Peninsula, but these 20 days were truly decisive for the future destiny of the Russian oil industry.
Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to reconstruct a full picture of these decisive days. Only a few later works of the great scientist contain isolated references to his work: about “appropriate changes” at the Surakhany refinery, about recommendations involving, “First of all, operating the distillation continuously and carefully producing enamel barrels,” and “In 1863 I recommended to Mr. Kokorev that he set up such pipes as well as vessels with reservoirs and also set up a refinery around Nizhny.”
The scientist’s notebooks also preserve isolated fragments of his plans for work in Surakhany, including sketches of a drilling tool. However, the basic research work was aimed at improving the production process for distillation of oil. Over three and a half weeks, Mendeleyev and Eichler carried out a whole series of experimental distillations, including secondary distillation of the resulting distillates, with a separation of 50-degree fractions. The results obtained also allowed substantial changes to be made in the construction of distillation stills, as well as the introduction of continuous-flow condensers. This was the basis of Mendeleyev’s subsequent scientific prediction about the possibility of the thorough refining of petroleum into various products.
The development of the technology for producing the fotonaftil lighting product became a very important scientific result of the joint work of chemists Mendeleyev and Eichler. After primary distillation of oil, the resulting product contained substances having an unpleasant odor, and the smoky, unsteady flame could not provide sufficient lighting. Initially, the scientists continued their experiments involving alkaline processing of kerosene, with subsequent acidification using hydrochloric acid to remove traces of alkali. After that, they studied the action of sulfuric acid on distillates with thorough mixing. They quickly obtained such impressive results that even ten years after completing this work Dmitry Mendeleyev wrote: “The oil processing techniques used in the past decade at the Baku refinery, obviously, not having been borrowed from anyone, could be instructive for many people.”26
Later Dmitry Mendeleyev succinctly summarized his work on the Absheron Peninsula: “Some of these suggestions were immediately implemented, together with Mr. Eichler, which made the Surakhany refinery profitable, despite the fact that the price of kerosene had started to fall.”27
Among Mendeleyev’s many revolutionary ideas, his suggestion about the need to replace the digging of pits with the drilling of oil wells was immediately approved by Kokorev, who, in turn, was relying on his own experience in the salt industry.
Unfortunately, plans to introduce the drilling of oil wells on the Absheron Peninsula met fierce resistance from Ivan Mirzoyev, the new holder of the tax-farming arrangement on the fields. On November 10, 1865, the head of the Main Administration of the viceroy of the Caucasus received a letter from an authorized agent of Mirzoyev, who sharply objected to granting the Transcaspian Trading Partnership the right to drill on 462 acres located between the main sources and asked the Baku Treasury Office “to restore, on the basis of law, his rights, which had been violated, and to prevent the Trading Partnership from drilling oil wells within the boundary of the tax-farming line.”
In 1862, the Transcaspian Trading Partnership participated for the first time in the London International Exhibition on Industry and Arts, where the fotonaftil from the Surakhany refinery received a silver medal for the high quality of its production.
In 1865 the refinery participated in the All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition in Moscow and drew the attention of specialists and experts for the high quality of its production. The conclusion of the expert commission regarding fotonaftil was that “it is impossible not to notice how pure it is; it was white and more pure than the imported Pennsylvania oil, and when burned it did not have any odor.”28 It was fitting that the large silver medal that the jury awarded to the fotonaftil of the Transcaspian Trading Partnership became a worthy tribute to the creative research and initiative of Russian scientists and entrepreneurs.
On the Brink of the Big Oil of the Volga Region
The remoteness of the Absheron Peninsula and the complexity of delivering Baku oil to the country’s industrial regions forced the Russian government to reconsider the question of managing petroleum prospecting in central Russia.
In the first half of the 19th century, reports about the presence of petroleum and sulfur on the territory of Kazan Province started to appear even in the local press. For example, I. Langel’s detailed work, “A Brief Medicophysical and Topographic Survey of Kazan Province and Its Capital City Kazan, Composed by State Councilor and Knight I. Langel, Former Inspector of the Kazan Medical Authority and Member of Various Scholarly Societies” (1829), mentions caves with “curative” sulfur and petroleum springs. In particular, Doctor Langel wrote: “The city of Tetyushi lies on the right bank of the Volga, 160 versts [105.6 miles] from Kazan. It is located on a very high bank of this river, which has, located in several places along it, noteworthy caves containing curative sulfur and petroleum springs.”
In 1830, the Mining Department sent its first expedition to prospect for useful minerals in the Volga region. Thus, the first special geologic (or, as it was called at that time, geognostic) study of the territory of the Volga region in the area of the village of Syukeyevo was carried out in that year by the geologists Nikolay Shirokshin and Aleksey Guryev. They published the results of their research in the article “Geognostic Survey of the Right Bank of the Volga River from the City of Samara to the City of Sviyazhsk,” which appeared in Gorny zhurnal in 1831.
Analysis of this article shows that the geologists made a detailed study and description of rocks such as carbonates, which are widespread on the right bank of the Volga; clays, marls, and sandstones; and also Syukeyevo deposits of bitumen, sulfur, and other mineral formations: “Here, in the steep bank of the Volga, opposite the village of Syukeyevo, rocks are exposed in the following order: lowest of all is limestone, sometimes of a brown color due to the presence in it of petroleum and sulfur, for which reason rubbing it makes it gives off a strong odor that is characteristic of these substances; when it is permeated with a large quantity of petroleum, it can burn. Such strata usually have fine streams of petroleum seeping from them through cracks; this petroleum hardens in the air to form mineral tar.”
The article goes on to advance a hypothesis about the formation of the Syukeyevo caves: “Flint, calcite, and gypsum are washed out by water, giving the limestone a porous appearance, sometimes leaving large voids, which are often filled with sulfur and petroleum deposits. Perhaps the caves, which are frequently encountered in this limestone, were originally formed from these same voids; the vaults of such caves are rounded by the action of water, which probably also widened them, washing out the concretions of gypsum, and perhaps also rock salt, for we have found grains of it in overlying gypsum. Both the vaults and the walls of the caves are covered with petroleum, sulfur, or calcareous nitrate, whose formation could also promote the widening of the caves.... The floors of the caves are often covered with water, for the Volga floods them in the springtime; aside from this, they have their own small springs with petroleum and sulfur.” It also drew attention to the fact that “the lower layer of limestone, located almost on the Volga’s summer water table, is the richest in such springs; whereas they are almost completely dried up in the upper strata, leaving behind a hardened mineral tar filling all the cracks and voids.” The geologists also noted the primitive methods used by the local population to recover petroleum for household and medicinal purposes: “Such water, coming to the surface in springs, is used as medicinal water, for baths and to be taken internally. The inhabitants of the district collect petroleum for their own needs by digging out small holes in front of the source of a gushing spring; these holes fill with water, and petroleum floats on the surface; this petroleum is then removed.”
Several years later, the Mining Department sent another expedition, this time with the specific goal of prospecting for bituminous minerals in the Volga region. In 1837, Gorny zhurnal published the “Report of Staff Captain Gerngros II on Prospecting Carried Out at the Direction of the Mining Authorities in the Sibir, Kazan, and Orenburg Regions to Discover Asphalt Deposits.” In this work, mining engineer Aleksandr Gerngros described the deposits of useful minerals in the Volga region in detail. He gave a detailed description of the territories he had studied, their geologic structure, their nature and soils, as well as descriptions of the Zhiguli Mountains, the Syukeyevo cave (16.5 miles from the city of Tetyushi), and deposits of various useful minerals 6.6 miles from the city of Syzran, near the village of Karpara.
It should be noted that a large part of his report was also devoted to natural asphalt. He described deposits of asphalt near Kostichey in Pustylny Gorge, close to the city of Tetyushi, around the village of Pechorskoye, in the village of Troyekurovka, on the right bank of the Volga, at the point where the Syzranka River discharges into it, near the city of Syzran, etc. He performed mineralogical tests of the asphalt directly on site: “The tar’s color is brown on the surface, black when fractured. It has a glassy luster and is extremely light and brittle. It melts and runs when exposed to fire, similar to pitch, giving of an odor of black sealing wax; it does not catch fire easily, and quickly goes out.” About the product of another deposit he wrote: “Its entire mass is of a black color, together with a resinous odor similar to that of tar.” Staff Captain Gerngros also noted a curious fact regarding the use of asphalt by the local population: “Near the village of Kostichey, where the viscous asphalt is encountered to a greater extent than elsewhere, blacksmiths use it for bluing iron products, which protects them from rust and gives them a more pleasant appearance.” In his report, Gerngros also pointed out the location of a series of petroleum deposits: “Petroleum of various thickness and of a blackish-brown color was noted near the city of Tetyushi and the village of Sergiyevsk and 10 versts [6.6 miles] from the sulfur waters. Between Tetyushi and Syukeyevo village, it comes out of rock faces and impregnates chalky marl.... But the most interesting petroleum deposit is located five versts [3.3 miles] from the village of Novoyakushkino, 200 sazhens [1,400 feet] from the mountain called Sarzhat. In a pit three feet deep and four feet wide, water is covered on the surface with black and very sticky petroleum, and although it is rather frequently skimmed off, within several days it accumulates again.”
On the basis of his observations, mining engineer Gerngros drew important scientific and theoretical conclusions. In his report, he noted that “the asphalt sediments found in cracks of chalky marl, all the more so in its lower parts, suggest that at the present time they form from resinous particles that combine through some chemical process, and that the main deposit of it is hidden in the Earth’s rocky crust.” Thus, Aleksandr Gerngros simultaneously stated two very important theoretical principles. First, that the asphalt deposits in the Volga region are secondary and arose as a result of the migration of a more liquid product from the depths of the Earth to the surface layers. And second, that asphalt forms from more liquid resinous parts as a result of chemical processes—that is, as a result of petroleum oxidation. Even today, these principles formulated by mining engineer Gerngros coincide with the views of contemporary geology scholars regarding the formation of natural asphalt and petroleum deposits.
Unfortunately, Volga entrepreneurs did not make use of the impressive results of Staff Captain Gerngros’s expedition to develop the oil business. However, 18 years later, when mining engineer Aleksandr Gerngros was appointed to the high post of director of the Department of Mining and Salt Works, he revisited the question of resuming petroleum prospecting in the Volga region.
This mission was assigned to the well-known Russian geologists Gennady Romanovsky and Pavel Yeremeyev, who were officers of the Corps of Mining Engineers. Over almost seven seasons (1863–1868), Corps of Mining Engineers Captain Gennady Romanovsky (1830–1906) made a detailed study of the sites of surface oil shows in the region of the Urals and the Volga, in the region of the cities of Buguruslan and Bugulma between the Sok and Kinel Rivers, and also in the regions lying south of Kinel. Having discovered oil shows at the Nizhnyaya Karmalskaya station in the Sheshma River valley, he drew the following conclusion: “There is no doubt that the rocks lying underwater contain cracks through which petroleum and gases escape.” In the villages of Sarabikulovo and Shugurovo he found oil, where “certain waters containing drops of petroleum point, without any doubt, to the presence of liquid petroleum inside the strata.” At the village of Staraya Semenkina mining engineer Romanovsky found sandstone that had previously been impregnated with petroleum, with a thick tar flowing out of the surface of the sandy sheets being heated by the sun. He also discovered petroleum at the village of Kamyshla. In this connection he wrote that “near the city of Tetyushi, around the source of the Cheremshana River, which flows into the Volga opposite the city of Singaleni, and also at the headwaters of the Sok River, close to the Sergiyevsk mineral waters, there are traces of petroleum sources.” Concerning the origin of the petroleum deposits he had discovered, Corps of Mining Engineers Captain Romanovsky announced in quite definite terms: “The mineral oil of Samara Province flows out of layers of Devonian or Lower Carboniferous soil.” In so doing, he made an important discovery that determined the future nature of prospecting in the region, as he had established that the petroleum contained in sediments of Permian age also served as a sign of “rich underground accumulations of it [mineral oil].” Developing this thought, he wrote: “I am completely certain that in Samara Province basins of liquid petroleum are definitely confined under Permian sandstones.... The petroleum must originate in Devonian sediments, and consequently at a depth of less than 100 sazhens [700 feet].”
The well-known geologist Pavel Yeremeyev (1830–1899), a professor at the Mining Institute, participated in the 1866 expedition to study the presence of oil in the Volga region. The first issue of Gorny zhurnal for 1867 published his extensive article “Research on Oil Fields in Kazan, Simbir, and Samara Provinces,” in which he concluded that “despite the proven importance and universal significance of oil sandstone as an indicator of the presence of petroleum sources in Permian soil, the question of the reliability of oil fields in Kazan and Samara Provinces is still not resolved, and requires further elucidation.”
This conclusion prompted mining engineer Gennady Romanovsky to take subsequent active measures. Defending his point of view and being an advocate of deep drilling, he insisted on constructing a deep well in the Volga region around the village of Batraki; this well was drilled using a steam engine. However, in 1869 a serious accident occurred while drilling at a depth of only around 16 feet, after which drilling work was suspended. Unfortunately, despite Gennady Romanovsky’s insistent attempts, it was not possible to resume drilling work. Thus, the low quality of drilling techniques and tools prevented him from proving his theory to be correct and from subsequently producing Volga petroleum on an industrial scale.
The secondary nature of the petroleum in Permian rock of the Volga region was recognized at this time by other scholars as well, including Aleksandr Shtukenberg, a professor at Kazan University, and Aleksey Pavlov, a professor at Moscow University.
Some figures in the oil industry did attempt to verify the theoretical reasoning of these geology scholars, and began to carry out oil drilling work in the Volga region. However, these explorations did not produce any substantial results. Shallow wells showed only traces of petroleum, not industrial reserves. These failures contributed, to a certain extent, to the slowing of the large-scale exploration and prospecting work in the Ural and Volga regions that was intended to establish the regions’ ability to produce industrial quantities of oil.
Transferring the Experience of Pennsylvania
Data from the Caspian Board of the Russian Ministry of State Property show there were 136 hand-dug wells on the Absheron Peninsula in 1842, which annually produced up to 27,620 barrels of oil. Archive documents clearly show that the Russian government at this time was beginning to think seriously about the low efficiency of the oil business, and also about the directions of oil exporting. Minister of Finance Mikhail Vronchenko, in a memorandum dated October 12, 1844 said: “In the eight-year period from 1836 through 1844, oil exports to Persia did not decline, but rose by 9,139 poods [1,097 barrels] as compared to the eight-year period from 1828 through 1836. The Treasury’s three-year total net income (1840, 1841, and 1842) is now up to 109,000 rubles, and the last tax-farming payment was 91,000 rubles.”
But in those days (the late 1850s), the United States of America was rapidly assuming the role of leader in oil production. Whereas that country produced only 2,000 barrels (350 tons) of oil in 1850, the picture had radically changed by the end of the decade. August 27, 1859 became a crucial starting point in the history of the US oil industry. That was the day the blacksmith William Smith obtained the first commercial inflow of oil (approximately 30 barrels a day) at a depth of 69.5 feet in a well drilled under contract to an entrepreneur, the former railroad conductor Edwin Drake. Edwin Drake’s success attracted many fortune-seekers to Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek Valley. The avalanche of Pennsylvania oil that poured onto the US domestic market promoted the rapid growth of the oil business. In 1861, a popular expression at the New York Stock Exchange was: “From now on, oil will be our king, not cotton!”
In turn, the low cost of American crude sharply increased the export possibilities for American kerosene. Beginning in 1860, it appeared in Europe, where the first 36 tons had been exported, while kerosene exports to Russia, which lagged behind the United States in oil production by a factor of 13 that year, began at the same time.
The rapid successes of the American oil industry in Russia did not go unnoticed, and Russians were compelled to analyze the cause of such a sharp swing in the industry’s development, including trips abroad to witness US oil operations firsthand.
The first Russian mining engineer to visit the US oil fields was Corps of Mining Engineers Lt. Col. Gennady Romanovsky (1830–1906). In 1865, “by his Majesty’s order,” he was sent on a 10-month trip abroad to study the geologic nature of oil fields and methods of exploring and producing them. His route to the United States of America took him through Europe—specifically, through France and Great Britain.
In Paris, he met the noted French inventor Paul Destrem. Information collected in France on drilling technology and techniques later helped him work on a new type of drilling tool. He visited Great Britain briefly, and as he recollected, “found nothing remarkable or significant” for the Russian oil business.
The main purpose of Gennady Romanovsky’s foreign trip was to study oil field development know-how in the American state of Pennsylvania. He spent nearly six months there, and saw with his own eyes the results achieved by the oil industry, which had developed in an environment of economic freedom and healthy competition, and he rated the activities of private companies at their true worth. In order to see the “petrol” fields personally, Romanovsky visited the cities of Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Wheeling, Springfield, Columbus, and several other oil areas. In 1864, the US produced 2,497,700 barrels of oil, and rates of oil development and refining were steadily rising. The country was operating 194 refineries, which produced 28 million gallons of petroleum products. Incidentally, that same year the US exported 347,000 gallons of kerosene to Russia, which was used to light the streets of St. Petersburg.
Mining engineer Romanovsky personally attended the drilling of oil wells near the town of Parkersburg. The sight made a strong impression on him. Writing in his journal, he noted that: “When several sources of petroleum were discovered in Pennsylvania, it was ejected from the well along with mud and water, and sometimes with such force that it tore off the roofs of drilling sheds that were 50 to 70 feet high.” He also noted a strong French influence on American drilling technology and techniques, which was especially noticeable in patents on a rotary drilling apparatus and a set of drilling tools obtained by the American Levi Dizbrow.
A critical event occurred during mining engineer Romanovsky’s stay in the United States: the world’s first “pipe line” (oil pipeline) was built and placed in service. That line was five miles long, and had a pipe diameter of two inches.
Gennady Romanovsky described the results of his trip in detail in his “Report of Lt. Colonel Romanovsky to the Mining Department on Drilling in Europe and on Lighting Materials,” where he analyzed in detail the state of affairs in exploration, production, and refining of crude oil, or petroleum, which “in the United States provides considerable annual income both to the government and to private individuals.” He also pointed out that in the US, the discovery and industrial-scale development of natural sources of petroleum (unlike in Russia) had been carried on for quite some time, due to the “convenience and cheapness of producing this lighting material.” In North America, “petrol or crude oil is divided into two types: heavy for lubrication and light for lighting.”
In an effort to bring the results of his trip to the attention of Russian mining engineers, Gennady Romanovsky published an article in the Gorny zhurnal, “On Petroleum Generally and North American Petrol in Particular” (1866), where he argued that the production and consumption of oil in Russia needed to be increased, even though “as a fuel it generally has not spread far and has not been adopted as boiler fuel on steamships and locomotives.” In his opinion, the geologic research of mining engineer Friedrich von Koschkull, Lt. General Gregor von Helmersen, and Academician Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich demonstrated the presence of extensive undeveloped oil fields in the Caucasus, on the Absheron Peninsula, in the Transkuban Region, on the Taman Peninsula, and near Kerch. Therefore, decisive government participation was required.
Based on his thorough analysis of all that he had seen and understood on his trip, Gennady Romanovsky described the status of the US oil industry, setting guidelines for the practical use of American experience for further development of petroleum geology and improvement of drilling technology in Russia. Lt. Colonel Romanovsky also indicated steps that could be deemed necessary for the development of a Russian “petrol industry” and ways of exploring for petroleum. Based on the experience gained from his trip to the US, he thought it necessary to ban the leasing of land to foreign companies wishing to produce petroleum in Russia, and not to permit monopolies in the production of oil by Russian subjects. In his opinion, oil production and exploration had to be done by the state, at least at first. And only “under these conditions can Russian industry develop rapidly and benefit both the government and the people.”
Russian Cossacks in the Oil Business
It is fitting that some of the most important developments in the chronicle of the 19th-century Russian oil business should occur on ancient land—the territory of the former Russian principality of Tmutarakan.
In the three decades following the end of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768–1774, the Russian Empire decisively fortified and consolidated its new southern borders. Soon, the long-awaited time came when Russians returned to the Taman Peninsula, the territory of the legendary outpost of 12th-century Kievan Rus.
On January 16, 1792, the commander-in-chief of hosts in the Caucasus and Kuban, General-in-Chief Ivan Gudovich (1741–1820), presented a plan to Empress Catherine the Great for establishing a Caucasian line, specifying construction of new forts and settlement of Cossack villages along the border, from Yekaterinograd village on the Malka River to the Kuban River and along the Kuban to the mouth of the Laba. He stressed that “this territory would be quieter if the entire border along the Kuban were occupied by the same Cossack hosts as along the Terek.”
On June 30, 1792, Catherine signed an “Imperial Charter bestowed on the Black Sea Cossack Host,” which stated: “The zealous and fervent service to Us of the Black Sea Host, proven... by feats on land and sea, their unbreakable faith... have drawn our special attention and mercy. We therefore, wishing to reward the Black Sea Host’s services by affirming their permanent well-being... have granted them, in perpetuity, holdings consisting of the region of Tavrich Island of Phanagoria with all the land lying on the right side of the Kuban River from its mouth to the Ust-Labinsk redoubt, so that the Kuban River and the Azov Sea, to the city of Yeysk, serve as the boundaries of the host’s land.”
The first detachment of combat Cossacks under the command of Colonel Sawa Bely arrived in Taman August 25, 1792 in rowing vessels. They were followed by new groups of Black Sea Cossacks. Commander [ataman] Zakhary Chepega, with his military staff, a wagon train and three 500-man cavalry and two 500-man infantry regiments, skirted the Azov Sea and arrived October 23, 1792 at Khan Town (now the city of Yeysk).
In 1794, Don Cossacks also began resettling in the Kuban region, founding six unit [kuren] settlements. Five Cossack districts were also formed that same year, on the lands settled by Cossacks.
In 1792, the Black Sea Cossack Host began to produce petroleum, and not just for its own needs. Persistent demand for oil deliveries had also arisen from the Black Sea Fleet. In 1793, naval commander Admiral Nikolay Mordvinov (1754–1845) wrote to Cossack Colonel Sawa Bely: “The Sevastopol Fleet needs oil and since most of that Taman Island abounds in it, I have ordered Captain Mas, who is located in Kerch, to send the requisite number of workers there to collect and deliver it to Kerch. Please permit them to do this work.”
In October 1832, the Caucasus Line Cossack Host was formed, and on November 19, 1860 it was divided into the Kuban Cossack Host and Tersk Cossack Host with the formation of the territorial administrative Kuban and Tersk Regions.
The lands of the right bank of the Kuban, settled by the Cossacks, and the trans-Kuban region with its long-resident mountain peoples, including the Adygeans, were placed in Kuban Region. The abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861 and the end of hostilities in the North Caucasus opened extensive possibilities for settlement of the area by immigrants from other Russian provinces. Thousands of emancipated serfs from southern provinces of European Russia streamed into the Kuban in search of free land and work. In a very short time, Kuban Region became a region of considerable growth in basic economic indicators. The opening and development of the Kuban oil fields played an important role in this.
In the early 1830s, the first geologic investigation of the Kuban region was carried out by specialists from the Georgian Mining Expedition, Nikolay Voskoboynikov and Aleksey Guryev. Their joint study appeared in the Gorny zhurnal for 1832 (Part 1) under the title, “Geognostic Description of the Taman Peninsula Belonging to the Land of the Black Sea Forces.” They studied the peninsula’s geologic structure, determined for the first time the age of the rocks comprising the Taman Peninsula and belonging to the Tertiary System, described all petroleum sources on the peninsula, and provided information on mud volcano eruptions in 1794, 1799, 1814, and 1822. The geologists concluded that “the original cause of both the Baku and Taman volcanoes was petroleum deposits.”
In addition, they were the first to present information on the existence, in 1824, of the first refinery on the Taman Peninsula, belonging to the merchant Ledenev. The enterprise had operated for several years, and the finished “white” oil product was even sold in Kharkiv. Crude oil was produced in hand-dug wells on Kapustin Gorge near the village of Vyshe-Steblovskaya. The entrepreneur paid the Cossack Host 30 silver kopecks per 3.25 gallons of oil. Reports make it clear that in 1827 alone he collected 390 gallons of oil.
The encouraging results of the first regional studies by the geologists from the Georgian Mining Expedition nevertheless led to a certain change in the state of affairs. The first steps were taken in the Kuban to organize the oil business. In 1829, the Black Sea Cossack Host created the special rank of oil well inspector.
Later, at the initiative of the leader of the Black Sea Cossack Host, Major General Nikolay Zavadovsky, measures were undertaken to construct facilities at the oil fields. From June to August 1833, the extensive oil field areas, where there were 195 hand-dug wells in various states of repair, were inspected with the assistance of two Baku masters of oil well construction. These specialists determined that 12 of the wells contained “white” oil, the rest “black.” The depths of the inspected wells ranged from 11.6 to 21 feet, with the well measuring 21 inches at the top, then broadening in the middle, and reaching 42 inches at the bottom. In addition, the masters constructed five new hand-dug wells, gave specific recommendations for further development of the fields, and trained the workers in well construction technology. Implementation of these recommendations enabled oil production to be increased somewhat.
In the summer of 1835, the Georgian Mining Expedition sent Senior Manager [Oberhüttenverwalter] Vollendorf to the Kuban. During his two-month stay, he performed a thorough study of the Taman, summarizing his results in a report dated January 14, 1836, titled “Description of the Taman Oil Fields.”
Vollendorf divided the oil produced on the Taman Peninsula into three types: “Thick greenish, liquid greenish, and watery greenish.” In addition to the digging of oil out of the wells, Senior Manager Vollendorf described the extraction of “thick greenish” oil from petroliferous sand found at depths of 49 feet. In all, 51 barrels of oil were produced from the Taman fields that year.
Vollendorf’s report contained one more important fact: in the mid-1830s, the Kuban oilmen were using manual drilling in their prospecting work. According to his report: “When they want to dig a well at a new site, first they test the earth with an auger (they call it a sounding borer), sinking it.... When they want to reveal the presence of petroleum during testing, they pour more water into the drillhole and remove it more often, so the mud and oil no longer adhere to the auger.... They also learn of the presence of petroleum when the auger advances more easily, which indicates entry into a layer containing petroleum.”
Senior Manager Vollendorf’s trip to the Kuban yielded yet another noteworthy result: the appearance, in February 1836, of the first technical manual in the domestic oil business, Rules for Guidance When Digging Oil Wells [Pravila dlya rukovodstovaniya pri kopanii neftyanykh kolodtsev], with necessary drawings included in an appendix. The author systematized methods known at that time for constructing oil wells, proposed an optimal design, and specified necessary steps for well operation, including rudimentary safety measures for workers.
The need to increase oil production volumes in the region was also driven by the expansion of its areas of application. In his letter of August 1839 to the minister of finance, Count Yegor Kankrin, the commander-in-chief of the Civilian Unit in the Caucasus, noted that: “Black liquid oil is especially recommended as an excellent material for impregnating timber for construction of underwater parts, since it can replace natural drying of the wood and increase the strength of seagoing vessels. The latter fact, along with the introduction of ‘black’ oil for the lighting of beacons on the Caspian and Black Seas, deserves the government’s full attention. This is particularly true in shipbuilding, for which required timber can be prepared sooner, and as petroleum protects against rapid rotting, this will be of considerable benefit, especially for the Black Sea Fleet, which has its own petroleum, probably of the same quality as that on the Taman Peninsula. The substitution of ‘white’ oil for turpentine and thick ‘black’ oil in place of tar offers an important benefit in preserving wood.”
This proposal was accepted by the government, and imperial approval of the “Statute on the Black Sea Cossack Host,” with a special chapter “On the Production of Oil and Sale of Same,” followed on July 1, 1842. In accordance with the directive’s provisions, all oil produced in the Kuban region was to enter the army stores for sale at a price approved by the commander of the Caucasus Line. The oil fields were to be managed by an official of the mining department, who supervised the Cossack squadron [sotnya], the commander of which held the position of oil well inspector. The Cossacks, in addition to free provisions, would be paid 10 silver kopecks per 3.25 gallons of crude. The mining official and oil well inspector reported to the board of the Black Sea Cossack Host, which in turn presented a petroleum report once a year to the Department of Military Settlements of the Ministry of War.
On the whole, however, there was still no substantial growth in oil production. This is clearly confirmed by indicators presented in the “Register of the Arrival and Disbursement of Oil Produced at Army Petroleum Institutions over 10 Years and Withholdings for Army Use from 1835 to 1844,” prepared by the board of the Black Sea Cossack Host. During this period, only 970 barrels of “black” oil and 111 barrels of “white” oil were produced.
The unsatisfactory results from the Kuban oil fields were not overlooked by the government. Captain Anisimov of the Corps of Mining Engineers soon arrived to the Kuban and made a thorough study of the condition of the Taman fields with their “abundant signs of oil fields,” which was reflected in his “Memorandum on the Inspection of Oil Facilities” (April 1845). He considered it possible to increase oil production to 232 barrels per year if existing wells were promptly repaired, if exploration was begun by manually drilling wildcat wells using a tool known as an exploratory drill, and if 50 new wells were constructed.
However, acting ataman Major General Rashpil and the board of the Cossack Host were of a different opinion: in view of the “small income... and to ease the Cossacks’ internal service, all oil wells should be farmed out.” Therefore, in December 1846, the Military Directorate of the Black Sea Cossack Host signed a four-year contract with the small business owner Yegor Cherkasov, granting him a monopoly on development of oil fields on army lands, as well as the sale, export, and import of oil, all for an annual fee of 380 silver rubles.
In 1848, the Black Sea Cossack Host reinstated the position of mining engineer at the oil fields, appointing to the post squadron leader Gavriil Litevsky, who attempted to introduce certain new oil well operation techniques into production. However, in 1853, oil production in the Kuban virtually ceased due to the onset of the Crimean War, and was not resumed until after hostilities ended. Unfortunately, most wells became inoperable due to the prolonged period of inactivity.
Colonel Novosiltsev’s Oil Gusher
In early 1863, the Military Directorate of the Kuban Cossack Host entered into a tax-farming agreement for exploitation of Taman oil fields with the Kerch merchant Franz Kibler. The agreement was for a three year period at an annual fee of 135 rubles, to be paid to the army.
In July of the same year, Kibler assigned his tax-farming rights to Guards Colonel Ardalion Nikolayevich Novosiltsev (1816–1878). After familiarizing himself with the situation, Col. Novosiltsev contacted the Military Directorate and proposed extending the agreement through 1872, with monopoly rights to produce oil on the territory of the Taman peninsula and a simultaneous increase in the fee from 135 to 270 rubles per year. Col. Novosiltsev’s offer was accepted, and the agreement was extended through May 1, 1872.
Col. Novosiltsev then contacted the Military Directorate and proposed that it grant him a series of Kuban Cossack Host lands lying beyond the Kuban river within the Natukhay District, declaring that “with its method of developing oil and with the establishment of refineries and plants for the manufacture of candles, paints, soap, and similar necessary household goods, the poorest of residents will have the opportunity to use and purchase what they need for housekeeping, and later deliver a profitable source of income to the populated territory.”29
This proposal was likewise accepted, and under the second agreement Col. Novosiltsev gained monopoly rights to the land through May 1872 for an annual fee of 200 silver rubles. Additionally, he was required to annually provide 39 barrels of oil for the army’s needs and 310 barrels to Cossack families. After the agreement expired, all facilities and structures he had erected would become the property of the army. Finally, under a third agreement, Ardalion Novosiltsev obtained the right to develop oil-bearing areas occupied by the Abinsk and Psekup Cossack Regiments on the banks of the Chiby, Sups, and II Creeks through May 1872. In this manner, Col. Novosiltsev gained tax-farming rights to oil-bearing lands over a wide area, ranging from the shores of the Black and Azov Seas to the meridian of Yekaterinodar.
Naturally, work in this area required a fundamentally new approach to the organization of the business. A report by mining engineer Gennady Romanovsky indicates that a 7.4-horsepower mobile steam engine, a so-called locomobile, was being used in these fields. Col. Novosiltsev began drilling his first wells in 1864 at the sites of surface oil shows, initially near Anapa and then at the village of Staro-Titarovskaya and the town of Fontanovsky. The drilling was done by a crew of American specialists specially invited from the United States, headed by foreman G. Clay.
Russia’s first oil exploration began with drillholes using mechanical percussion drilling and the casing of wells with metallic casing pipe. However, these attempts at exploratory drilling by the conventional American method of “wildcatting” proved unsuccessful—all three holes were “dry.” In addition, the excessive ambitions of the foreign specialists and their attempt to dictate unacceptable terms predictably forced Col. Novosiltsev to terminate their business relationship.
On the recommendation of mining engineer Friedrich von Koschkull, Col. Novosiltsev decided to concentrate exploratory work in the area of the Kudako, Psif, and Psebeps tributaries of the Kuban. On the advice of Lieutenant General Grigory Gelmersen, director of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, he hired the Russian specialists Vladimir Peters, a mechanic who had proven himself an experienced driller of artesian wells, and Karl Sikorsky, who was qualified as an experienced pipe-fitter.
In August 1865, drilling of five wells began on the left bank of the Kudako River, 26 miles from Anapa. When oil inflows appeared at a depth of 40 feet, drilling was continued at even greater intensity. Finally, on February 3, 1866 (February 15, New Style),30 at a depth of 123.5 feet, they struck Russia’s first oil gusher in Well No. 1.
An archive document of February 5, 1866, “Report to the Commander of Adagum Regiment,” contains the following description of the event: “Supplementing my Report 14 of November 18 in response to your Reply 6246 of November 5, please be advised that on my last trip to the Kudako area, after incredible efforts, this February 3rd we broke through a rock, and a strong jet of pure oil opened up with an extraordinary noise, yielding from 1,500 to 2,000 vedros [116 to 155 barrels] every 24 hours through pipes alone, without the assistance of the locomobile or any effort by the workers. I bring this to your attention for reporting to whomever you see fit. Vladimir Peters.”31
The gusher from Well 1 continued unabated for 24 hours, after which the oil inflow decreased somewhat, but on April 14, when drilling reached 242 feet, an even more powerful gusher occurred, which continued for 28 days. The Kudako oil had a somewhat unusual greenish color and an acrid sulfurous odor. According to the calculations of mining engineer Friedrich von Koschkull, this first gusher in the Kudako River field yielded some 12,000 barrels of oil.
In the summer of 1868, mining engineer Gennady Romanovsky visited the oil field for the first time. He made a very detailed description, drew up a general plan, performed a feasibility study, and presented specific recommendations for further work. His status report on the Kudako field was published in the Gorny zhurnal. In his conclusion, he noted: “In speaking of the beginning of development and establishment of the oil business in Kuban Region we cannot overlook the services of Colonel Novosiltsev, who has surpassed many with his energy and labors.”
Kuban oil became a major increment in fulfilling Russia’s oil production objectives. Whereas Russia produced only 66,875 barrels of oil in 1865, its production volume more than tripled in 1870, to 204,685 barrels. In that year, Col. Novosiltsev’s Kuban fields yielded 28,840 barrels, or 14% of Russia’s total oil production volume.
The Tragedy of the “Russian Oil Craze”
Ardalion Novosiltsev’s mighty oil gusher in the Kuban and his subsequent energetic activities were widely covered in the Russian press, with many newspapers even dubbing the phenomenon the “Russian Oil Craze.”
In order to refine the massive amounts of oil produced by the gusher, Col. Novosiltsev built the biggest refinery of the day, with an annual capacity of up to 61,891 barrels of kerosene, on the grounds of the old fort of Phanagoria on the shore of the Kerch Strait in 1869. The refinery’s equipment was made in factories in Glasgow (Great Britain) and incorporated state of the art technology for that time. The refinery had 20 steel distilling vats for oil, each with a volume of 4,881 gallons. The vats were surrounded by a cooling system with helical tubes seven inches in diameter. Crude oil was pumped into two tanks mounted on towers, where it was allowed to settle. It then flowed by gravity into the distilling vats. After distillation, the petroleum products were sent to a separating department, where the finished products were graded by specific gravity and distributed to corresponding underground tanks, from which they were pumped to purifiers. Mixers in the purifiers were driven by a 40-horsepower steam engine.
In 1876, Professor Konon Lisenko of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute visited the refinery and, in an article in Zapiski Imperatorskogo Russkogo tekhnicheskogo obshchestva [“Transactions of the Imperial Russian Technical Society”], observed: “With its location on the shores of a strait connecting the two seas that wash the shores of Southern Russia, and its proximity to the Kuban oil fields, Mr. Novosiltsev’s Phanagoria Refinery has no equal in terms of its advantageous industrial conditions. But it also differs from all refineries I have seen in: 1) its distillation system; 2) the special arrangement of certain parts of the refinery; and 3) the elegance and high-quality finishing of all individual devices.... It seems to me that in some respects it could serve as a model for refineries in the Baku area.”
The sophistication of the technological process at the Phanagoria Refinery was also noted by the respected specialist and production engineer Aleksandr Letny: “Oil produced in the Northwest Caucasus was refined by Mr. Novosiltsev’s Taman refinery. In its time, this refinery performed distillation with superheated steam and produced petroleum ether and light and heavy lamp oils.” In 1870, mining engineer Gennady Romanovsky also visited the enterprise and wrote: “Order, cleanliness, and activity characterize the entire refinery.”32 In 1871, the refinery produced 612 barrels of “petroleum” (heavy kerosene), 632 barrels of photogen, 323 barrels of ligroin, and 3.6 barrels of gasoline, and earned 44,072 rubles from the sale of its petroleum products.
At the 1870 All-Russian Manufacturing Fair in St. Petersburg, Col. Novosiltsev presented the results of his labor to the general public for the first and only time. The fair catalog gave a brief description of the refinery: “The refinery was founded in 1868. Distillation is carried out with superheated steam in 20 vats with capacities of 1,500 vedros [4,881 gallons] each. Mixers and pumps are driven by a 40-horsepower steam engine, and water is lifted by a special 10-horsepower steam engine. Up to 60 people work at the refinery.” The refinery’s booth exhibited “crude oil and tar, mineral oil, photogen, petroleum, ligroin, gasoline, heavy oil, carriage grease, and lubricants.”
However, the close of 1870 was marked by a serious setback for Ardalion Novosiltsev. On December 27, the first oilfield fire in Russian history broke out at his field in the Natukhay District. While drilling a well at 123 feet, workers struck a gusher of gassy oil. The firebox of a steam locomobile operating near the rig ignited a huge fire, causing human casualties and considerable material losses.
The approaching expiration of the tax-farming agreement in 1872 and a serious deterioration in Col. Novosiltsev’s financial position left no room for the realization of his expansive plans for development of the oil business in the Kuban. First he was denied a contract to lease oil-bearing lands near Maykop, and then the land of his main field was transferred by “Imperial Grant” to the “Subjugator of the Caucasus,” Infantry General Nikolay Yevdokimov, beginning in 1872.
A great struggle began over the right to continue the oil business, which completely absorbed all of Ardalion Novosiltsev’s energy. Petitioning the government, he wrote: “After expending considerable capital on preliminary surveys, I have become convinced that an enormous quantity of oil can be produced there via artesian wells. Experience on the Kudako River has brilliantly justified my hopes. There, a continuous stream of petroleum erupts to a height three sazhens [21 feet] above the ground’s surface from an artesian well 40 sazhens [280 feet] deep, which produces up to 10,000 poods [1,200 barrels] per day. I am proud that after expending much energy, labor, and money, I have been lucky enough to find such government riches, which will shortly constitute a new and very important source of state revenue. I have no doubt of success, but a shortage of funds could hinder me. The whole business rests on me alone, and the public is observing the business closely, seeing all its enormity, but has still not decided to help develop it.”33
In response to his request, a Senate decree arrived in May 1871 entrusting Col. Novosiltsev’s business to a special agency, a Trusteeship consisting of representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Internal Affairs, as well as creditors. The Trusteeship established relations with the Kuban Host by executing a 10-year contract, good through May 1, 1882, for monopoly rights to develop oil fields on the Taman and other lands previously allocated to Novosiltsev. Thus, Novosiltsev found himself removed from the everyday management of the considerable oil holding. In July 1876, the Board of the Kuban Cossack Host, in describing the Phanagoria Refinery, declared it Host property.
Through difficult negotiations, Col. Novosiltsev and officials of the chancellery of the governor general of the Caucasus in Tiflis (Tbilisi) managed to suspend this decision. Novosiltsev then began desperate attempts to win at least one more deferral of a debt repayment due by January 1, 1879. In an appeal to Emperor Alexander II dated October 30, 1878, Ardalion Novosiltsev wrote: “In striving to develop such an important domestic industry as the oil business, I have sacrificed not only my own fortune, but diverted considerable capital of private individuals, and even dared to resort to the august support of Your Imperial Majesty. The satisfaction of this obligation, sacred to the honor of a nobleman, has been the goal of my entire life, but now this business, brought to a productive end by many years of great sacrifice, could completely collapse.”34
However, a brief deferral of payment by “Imperial mercy” proved unable to save him, and the business tragically unraveled. On December 6, 1878, in Simferopol, Ardalion Novosiltsev passed away unexpectedly. He was later buried at the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg.
The First Oil Well in the Russian North
Widespread coverage of the Kuban oil gusher and the exploitation of resources in that region created a sensation throughout the Russian business community. However, oil prospecting in the resource-rich Ukhta District would not begin in earnest for another 20 years. Leading this new phase of the development of the Russian oil industry was Mikhail K. Sidorov (1823–1887), a trailblazing and devoted proponent of the exploration of the Russian North.
Mikhail Sidorov’s diverse capabilities and long history of devoted work earned him a worthy place among leading entrepreneurs of Krasnoyarsk and Yenisey Province. In 1859, he outfitted an expedition to the Turukhan Territory, where he discovered the first Siberian graphite deposit near the Kureyka River. Together with Vasily Latkin, he founded the Pechora Company to carry out field production and commercial operations in the Russian North. In 1860, his expedition discovered gold placers near the Shchugor River.
The productive operations of the Pechora Company were very evident to the residents of the territory. In 1864, forest Warden P. F. Gladyshev wrote a letter to Sidorov informing him of surface petroleum outcrops found in the Mezen District, Arkhangelsk Province. That same year, Mikhail Sidorov undertook a trip to the area and, together with local surveyors, he inspected the prospect parcels near the Ukhta River. The results of the trip were encouraging.
Incidentally, it is quite possible that Sidorov was also aware of the results of an expedition 20 years earlier to the Ukhta. In 1843, a geologic and geographic expedition consisting of geologist Alexander Keyserling (1815–1891) and researcher Paul Krusenstern (1809–1881) operated in the Pechora Territory. Over a period of six months, they traveled more than 4,620 miles from the headwaters of the Pechora to its mouth, performing various scientific studies. The result was the first geologic map of the Timan Mountain Range. Summarizing the results of the expedition, Keyserling published the book Wissenschaftliche Beobachtungen auf einer Reise in das Petschora-Land, im Jahre 1843 [Scientific Observations on a Trip to the Pechora Region in 1843] (1846), which contained numerous references to Ukhta petroleum.
After his visit and inspection of this oil-bearing area, Sidorov sent an application for three oil-bearing parcels with the hope that “the government will not deny the first applicant its sympathy for his laborious undertaking in this harsh, uninhabited, and roadless land.” But yet again, the hopes of an entrepreneur were dashed. Officials at all levels created all manner of impediments to his request, sometimes rationalizing their denials with the most ludicrous excuses. For instance, correspondence from the Arkhangelsk Province administration stated that: “Based on the Mining Charter now in effect, prospecting for gold, silver, and copper is permitted in the Olonets Province and Arkhangelsk Province (Articles 2253–2257); but regarding other minerals such as oil shale and petroleum, the Mining Charter contains no legal provisions or regulations.”
Meanwhile, following his return from a trip to the United States, mining engineer Gennady Romanovsky made a report to a general meeting of the Mineralogical Society in St. Petersburg in 1866, in which he expressed the very perspicacious supposition that the geologic structure of the main American oil-bearing area in Pennsylvania was similar to that of the Ukhta District, and that there might be large reserves of “black gold” there.
This news from the capital and Sidorov’s unquenchable insistence on obtaining land parcels on the Ukhta elicited interest among officials in developing the North’s oil industry. In particular, Arkhangelsk Governor Prince Gagarin had a great desire to gain the laurels of the first discoverer of an oil field in the North. To this end, he decided to form a provincial company to investigate natural riches and allocated 1,000 rubles for various types of oil exploration work. In the summer of 1867, under the observation of the commission’s members, Arkhangelsk Statistical Committee secretary Pavel Chubinsky, and Arkhangelsk high school natural sciences teacher Fëdor Belinsky, a well 232 feet deep was drilled by manual rotary means from a wooden platform located 28 miles from the mouth of the Ukhta River. This well showed only signs of the presence of petroleum. Then a second well was drilled in rocks on the banks of the Chut River, 1.9 miles from where it empties into the Ukhta; again, only showing traces of petroleum. The drilling results, presented in the commission’s report, disappointed the governor. Convinced of the poor prospects of further exploration, he lost interest in petroleum.
The chief impediment having apparently been removed, Mikhail Sidorov gained the long-awaited permit on August 9, 1867: “As a consequence of the Minister’s assent, the clarification of the Temporary Section’s proposal 8153 of June 20, and the Governor’s message 3084 of July 26, the State Property Administration authorizes you to develop petroleum and oil shale in the Mezen District, at the location you specified, 40 versts [26.4 miles] from the mouth of the Ukhta River where it empties into the Izhma River, for a 20-year period, in exchange for payment, for each desyatina [2.75 acres] of land occupied, of quitrent in the amount of the mean per-desyatina [per-2.75 acres] fee prevailing in the Arkhangelsk Province.” However, it took almost another year to overcome bureaucratic inertia and indifference and for work to begin on the allocated oil-bearing parcels. In the mid-summer of 1868, a crew outfitted by Mikhail Sidorov, led by experienced miner P. A. Lopatin, began development operations on the left bank of the Ukhta River opposite the mouth of its Neft-Yol River tributary, and within several months it had already drilled the first productive oil well in the Russian North.
The archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences contain two documents: “Daily Journal of Development and Deepening of an Oil Well on the Ukhta River by M. K. Sidorov in the Summer of 1868” and “Journal of the Success of Exploratory Drilling of M. K. Sidorov’s Well in 1872.” These documentary sources precisely define the duration of all phases of drilling on the Ukhta. Preliminary work to organize the drilling was begun in July 1868, and a well 16.5 feet deep was opened in August. Then the crew began manual well drilling using the rotary method with an eight-inch pyramidal bit. The rock cuttings were removed from the hole by a bailer, which was lifted by a hand crank. When a layer of hard rock was reached, the bit had to be changed every two hours. Beginning at a depth of 32 feet, traces of petroleum were noted on the drill pipe when the drilling tool was raised. Once the bit had reached a depth of 40 feet, a small stream of oil flowed from the hole to the surface, amounting to about 4.9 gallons per day. However, further drilling in beds of even harder rock caused the bit to break. There was no other tool in the field, and work was suspended for an extended period. In 1868, Mikhail Sidorov published an article titled “Petroleum in the Pechora Territory” in the Tekhnichesky sbornik [“Technical Collection”], in which he provided a detailed explanation of the progress of drilling on the Ukhta and the basic causes of the temporary suspension. At the same time, the first analyses of Ukhta oil, performed at the chemical laboratory of St. Petersburg Technological Institute by production engineer Eduard Wroblewski, confirmed the real possibility of its successful subsequent refinement.
After the departure of the experienced foreman Lopatin, Sidorov placed serf Aleksey Lebedev, who had been a member of the crew as a simple laborer until then, in charge of further work at the Ukhta field. With his stubbornness and natural talent, Lebedev managed to master the secrets of drilling despite a lack of specialized education. The archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences have preserved his designs of the bit, drill pipe, and temper screw, and today we can give due credit to the original drilling tool design developed by a simple Russian serf in 1871. Drilling operations resumed in June 1872 after the tools had been fabricated at a plant in St. Petersburg and delivered to the field. At first, drilling was done by manual rotary means, then by percussion on continuous pipes screwed to the bit. The drillers began using the cable method by the time the well reached a depth of 64 feet. In early September of that same year, Mikhail Sidorov brought to the field the noted German geologist Hans von Höfer, later a professor at the Mining Academy and author of the popular textbook Das Erdöl (Petroleum) und seine Verwandten [Petroleum and Its Relatives]. The prestigious scientist thoroughly familiarized himself with the results of the work at the field, and hypothesized the presence of a rich oil pool. He also praised work supervisor Aleksey Lebedev, noting that he had duly managed affairs at the Ukhta field at the level of an experienced mining engineer.
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