[Inclosure in No. 145.—Extract from the
Journal de St. Pétersbourg of September 14 (26),
1887—Translation.]
Petroleum production of Russia.
The “Parole de Kieff” 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 Marvin 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 Bakou furnish our
contemporary with the information for the following considerations: In
the district of Bakou the production of refined petroleum in 1883 was
about 60,000,000 of gallons (the gallon is equal to nearly a third of a
vedro); this proportion in 1884 had amounted to nearly 100,000,000 of
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.
The following table shows the variations of this importation during those
three years, in the countries there named.
[In millions of gallons.]
| Countries. |
1883. |
1884. |
1885. |
| Austria-Hungary |
15.5 |
6.3 |
2.0 |
| Greece |
1.3 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
| Turkey in Europe |
4.2 |
3.6 |
2.0 |
| Turkey in Asia |
3.1 |
3.5 |
2.1 |
| Gibraltar and
Malta |
2.7 |
3.3 |
1.0 |
[Page 1398]
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 Bakou the deepest wells are
only 700 feet; and besides Bakou we have abundant springs of naphtha on
the shores of the Black Sea, in the environs of Anapa and of
Novorossiisk. 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 1876,
3,500,000 gallons. Until 1873 the production of naphtha formed a state
monopoly. The contractor, Mirzoϊew, 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 Bakou 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
Bakou gives only 30 per cent, of petroleum, 70 per cent, of the natural
matter having to be employed in the manufacture of paraffiue, 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
mineral oils. The firm of Nobel Brothers own thirty-two wells which work
permanently and furnish from 150,000 to 500,000 hectoliters daily. It
owns also the best organized and largest petroleum refinery in Russia,
thirteen maritime constructions especially 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 Bakou 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. Marvin,
three years ago. A well discovered at Bakou 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, Galicia, Roumania, etc. On October 6, 1886,
the manufacturer Taguiew had discovered a spring which threw up to a
height of 224 feet, hurling stones and sand 3 versts around, even
reaching the town of Bakou; 30,000 pounds of naptha were emitted from it
every hour, to the point when it became necessary to put out all the
fires of the factories of the “black city” in order to prevent terrible
conflagations.
In the presence of this richness of the wells and of their relative
proximity to the markets of Europe and of Asia, one can understand that
Mr. Marvin speaks 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 Bakou 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.
