[Inclosure in No. 145.—Translation of an
article from the Journal de St. Petersbourg, of September, 14–26,
1887.]
The Parole de Kieff (Kiebckoe Clobo) draws attention to the constant
progress of the naphtha industry in the Caucasus and Transcaucasus. The
importance of this industry is already considerable, and there is every
reason to believe that it will end by driving American petroleum from
the European markets. A pamphlet of Mr. Charles Marwin has just appeared
in London, entitled “The approaching deluge of Russian petroleum.” This
writing and the report of the consul of the United States at Bakoo
furnish our contemporary with the information for the following
considerations:
In the district of Bakoo the production of refined petroleum in 1883 was
about 60,000,000 gallons (the gallon is equal to nearly a third of a
vedro). This proportion, in 1884 had amounted to nearly 100,000,000
gallons, and the year following to nearly 132,000,000. This branch of
the industry has more than doubled, therefore, in three years. On the
other hand, a notable diminution in the importation of American
petroleum has been observed in Europe.
[Page 969]
The following table shows the variations of this importation during those
three years in the following countries:
|
1883. |
1884. |
1885. |
|
Gallons. |
Gallons. |
Gallons. |
| Austria-Hungary |
15,500,000 |
6,300,000 |
2,000,000 |
| Greece |
1,300,000 |
1,100,000 |
300,000 |
| Turkey in Europe |
4,200,000 |
3,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
| Turkey in Asia |
3,100,000 |
3,500,000 |
2,100,000 |
| Gibraltar and
Malta |
2,700,000 |
3,300,000 |
1,000,000 |
In short, an importation reduced to one-quarter—from 26,800,000 gallons
to 6,700,000— and that in three years alone; and let it not be forgotten
that the naphtha industry in Russia is developing without check, putting
itself in unison with the requirements of our consumers of the West,
whilst in America many wells have become exhausted. In Pennsylvania, for
instance, in order to obtain naphtha, it is necessary to bore into the
earth to the depth of 2,000 feet, whereas at Bakoo the deepest wells are
only 700 feet; and besides Bakoo, we have abundant springs of naphtha on
the shores of the Black Sea, in the environs of Anapa and Novorossisk;
they are to be worked by a French company, disposing, it is said, of a
capital of 15,000,000 of rubles.
Let us now see what has been the development of the production of Russian
naphtha. In 1872 only 750,000 gallons had been extracted; in 1870 (sic), 3,500,000. Until 1873 the production of
naphtha formed a state monopoly. The contractor, Mirzoiew, while making
an immense fortune, did little towards giving an impulse to this
industry. The abolition of the tax changed the stagnation into feverish
activity, especially since the arrival at Bakoo of the Nobel Brothers,
Finlandish engineers, to-day called the naphtha kings.
The 1st of September, 1877, the tax on naphtha was abolished. The free
extraction of this product has given rise to many abuses. Has not one
often heard of the discovery of gigantic fountains of naphtha, which,
from the lack of resources to dam it and preserve it, was lost in the
sand or in the Caspian Sea. On the other hand, the natural naphtha of
Bakoo gives only 30 per cent, of petroleum, 70 per cent, of the natural
matter having to be employed in the manufacture of paraffine, of aniline
colors and of different kinds of oils. Well, scarcely any profit is
derived from it. Only the refuse, the mazout, as
it is called locally, is used as a combustible of an inferior
quality.
Here are some more figures, which characterize the extent of our riches
in minera-oils. The firm of Nobel Brothers own 32 wells, which work
permanently, and furnish from 150 to 500,000 hectoliters daily. It owns
also the best organized and largest petroleum refinery in Russia, 13
maritime constructions specially arranged for the transport of
petroleum, as also a great number of cistern-wagons to be met with on
all our railways. There are in all at Bakoo, 200 workshops for the
production of refined petroleum. The daily production is 1,200,000
gallons.
Of all the quantity produced, 35,000,000 gallons were exported abroad.
The ways of exportation were by Batoum on the Black Sea, Riga, Libau,
and Wierzbolowo, for Germany; Warsaw, Radzivilow, and Volotchisk, for
Austria-Hungary.
One can judge of the development of which the exportation of our
petroleum is susceptible by the following facts, related by Mr. Marwin:
Three years ago a well discovered at Bakoo was much talked of, from
which 3,400 tons of naphtha daily spurted up a quantity larger than the
whole of the production of the 25,000 wells of North America. At first
these rumors were received with much want of confidence, but it was
found that really the spring was still more abundant than had been said.
In fact, in 1886 the said well produced daily up to 11,000 tons of
naphtha, by which the production of one locality was larger than that of
the whole world—America, Galieia, Roumania, etc. On October 6, 1886, the
manufacturer Tagniew had discovered a spring which threw up to a height
of 224 feet, hurling stones and sand 3 versts around, oven reaching the
town of Bakoo. Thirty thousand pounds of naphtha were emitted from it
every hour, to the point where it became necessary to put out all the
fires of the factories of the “black city” in order to prevent terrible
conflagrations.
In the presence of this richness of the wells, and their relative
proximity to the markets of Europe and of Asia, one-can understand that
Mr. Marwin speans of the “deluge” with which Russian petroleum threatens
Europe, definitively ruining the naphtha trade of North America, which
henceforth will only have to supply the local demand.
The consul of the United States at Bakoo sees things differently. He
recognizes the loss to America of the markets of Austria, of Southern
Europe, of a part of Germany, even of Asia, but he hopes to keep those
of France, England, and of the other part of Germany.
