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.