The first written evidence of how oil was produced in Russia dates back to the 16th century. And already in 1745 on the river Ukhta the first oil refinery was built. The growing need for a new type of fuel forced the tsarist government to send geological and prospecting expeditions to the Caucasus. The results did not take long. So, in 1823 there was an oil refinery in Mozdok, and in 1846 in Baku the first well in the world was hammered. This was the beginning of oil production in Russia. According to statistics, by 1900 our country produced one-third of the world market of "black gold".
The revolution that began in 1917, and then the civil war, led to the demise of the once mighty empire. But already in 6 years, oil production in Russia has been fully restored, and the country has already reached the pre-revolutionary level in terms of exported "black gold". Up to the beginning of the Second World War, studies were conducted on oil reserves in the Caucasus region. During the Great Patriotic War, Hitler sought at any cost to seize the riches of this region.
After the victory of the USSR over Germany, a decision was adopted to start geological exploration in the Volga-Ural region. Oil production in Russia gradually moved from the eastern regions to the Urals. The presence of a relatively well-developed transport network, full-flowing rivers, and ease of development of new deposits led to a collapse in prices for Middle Eastern oil. The Volga-Urals region provided about 45% of all production in the USSR. By 1975, it had reached its peak at 4.5 million barrels / day.
The depletion of oil reserves in the Urals led to a more thorough exploration of Western Siberia. Discovered in the 1960s, large deposits began to be actively developed. Thousands of Soviet citizens have changed the climate of the central part of Russia in the severe Siberian winter. Began to grow rapidly and develop cities and towns. The rapid growth of the oil-producing regions made it possible to increase the volumes of extracted "black gold" to 9.900 thousand barrels / day. In our time, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District remains the leader in oil production. It is there that about 60% of all Russian "black gold" is mined. The first oil in Western Siberia was extracted by barbaric methods. Lack of reconnaissance was attempted to compensate for more intensive drilling, which eventually led to a rapid depletion of wells and a decrease in production volumes.
The collapse of the USSR led to the fact that oil production in Russia fell to such a level that the country could provide only itself, for export there was nothing left. The privatization carried out led to the creation of large oil companies. For many years now, Gazprom, Rosneft, Lukoil and TNK-BP have been leading among them. The main production of oil and gas in Russia is carried out by these giants.
Most of the oil companies are currently focused on the development of technologies that allow increasing the level of oil production in already developed regions. Modern means of automation and new methods of drilling lead to the fact that oil and gas production in Russia only increases. The total proved reserves of black gold increased by 5-15% due to the conducted modernization of production. New government programs aimed at developing the Far East and Eastern Siberia are already bearing fruit. Thanks to them, oil production in Russia continues to grow and exceeded 171 million tons.