The oldest oil field in Russia and the prospects for new ones

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The role of oil in the economy and politics became the leading one in the 20th century, as the consumption of its derivatives grew. The development and mass use of internal combustion engines has significantly increased the consumption of fuel oil, kerosene, gasoline and solar fuel, and the use of "black gold" fractions as a chemical raw material for the production of plastics since the 50s has created a situation in which industrial countries can no longer do without without hydrocarbons.

Each oil field in Russia has its own history, sometimes only two or three decades, and sometimes measured in centuries. DI. Mendeleev, foreseeing the enormous role of the chemical industry, in the 19th century prophetically compared the burning of this valuable raw material in furnaces with an attempt to warm himself from the flame of burning banknotes. The defensive significance of hydrocarbons is expressed by an equally expressive metaphor - “the blood of war.”

The oldest oil field in Russia is located in the North Caucasus; production has been carried out here for more than a century and a half. Due to such a long operation, the layers are fairly developed, and the voids formed between the deep soil layers are filled with water. HoweverThe Rostov Region, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia and Chechnya, as well as the Krasnodar Territory and Stavropol Territory contribute to hydrocarbon production.

The acceleration of industrial development that took place at the beginning of the 20th century prompted to intensify production in the Volga-Ural region. This oil field in Russia is the most studied, but, like the Caucasus, it has been exploited for a long time. Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Samara region and other European regions are important, despite the relatively small volumes of extracted raw materials. Their value lies in a convenient geographic location, resulting in lower transportation costs and high quality, determined by the low content of sulfur and paraffins.

The beginning of the 60s of the XX century was marked by the rapid development of the we alth of Western Siberia. Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut, Kholmogorsk, Ust-Balyk became the largest hydrocarbon production centers.

Thus, 90% of hydrocarbon production comes from the main oil fields in Russia, which are located in Western Siberia (67%) and the Volga-Ural region (25%).

Shelf zones of the Kara, Barents, Caspian and Okhotsk seas, as well as polar possessions, have now become promising. The unique mining of "heavy oil" is carried out near Usinsk, where the Timano-Pechora field is located.

There is a lot of oil in Russia, according to its production ourThe country ranks sixth in the world. However, the fact that in recent years geological work has been carried out in hard-to-reach and remote regions, where production is problematic due to severe weather conditions, and subsequent transportation requires the construction of long pipelines, suggests that a significant increase in volumes should not be expected.

Promising markets are the countries of Southeast Asia, which have seen a significant increase in industrial production in recent decades. The pipeline is being built in the Pacific direction, it will connect China and the East Siberian oil field in Russia. The map of hydrocarbon arteries is becoming more and more ramified. They stretch both east and west, but mostly crude oil is sold. Its processing is already carried out abroad, and the profits from technologically complex industries are deposited in the accounts of foreign industrial corporations. What to do?

There is only one way out: commodity exports should be replaced by the sale of a product with the maximum surplus value. The development of our own chemical processing industry is an inevitable way to maximize the rational use of natural resources inherited from our ancestors.