The Beginning of the Development of Oil Fields in Ural-Volga Region in 1930s—1940s

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the significance of the accumulation of everything positive from the historical experience of implementing national projects, including the formation of the country’s oil and gas complex. On the basis of archival documents, issues related to the evolution of state policy in the field of searching for new oil fields in the Ural-Volga region on the eve and during the Great Patriotic War are considered. The novelty of the study is determined not only by the introduction of previously unpublished documents into scientific circulation, but also by an attempt to analyze the ongoing discussions about the prospects of this oil region, very contradictory decisions of the government in this regard. Attention is focused on such a miscalculation of the Soviet government in the pre-war period as a stake on the development of oil production, primarily in Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus. It has been proven that as a result, the oil workers of the Second Baku felt a lack of funds, equipment, and qualified personnel. It is concluded that as a result, only the first half of 1944 was marked by the largest event in the oil industry of our country: scientists confirmed the assumptions that there are multilayer oil fields in the area between the Volga and the Urals. The authors of the article argue that the discovery of new deposits was of strategic importance for the industrialization of the country, and later for the supply of oil products to the rear and front. It is emphasized that the development of the Devonian deposits of the Ural-Volga region, which began in 1944, became the basis for a sharp increase in oil production in this region.