By Prof. Maryam SEYIDBAYLI, PhD in History

Dmitry (Ivanovich) Mendeleyev (1834-1907), a prominent Russian chemist who made a tremendous contribution to the development of Azerbaijan’s oil industry, repeatedly visited Baku in the second half of the 19th century.

The outstanding scientist paid the first such visit at the request of Vasily Kokorev, the owner of the Surakhani oil refinery.

In 1859, Kokorev, a Russian businessman, built a small plant in Surakhani to produce kerosene from crude oil as part of a project launched by Justus von Liebig, a German chemist, in the vicinity of Ateshgah, a fire worshipping temple.

Kerosene was used for lighting at the time. Initially, obtaining special oil for lighting lamps was envisaged. “Kir oil”, i.e. soil soaked in oil, was used for the purpose.

Kokorev realized over time that the German technology being used did not justify his expectations and the refinery was absolutely unprofitable. In 1863, he invited Mendeleyev to Baku to receive his advice and guidance. Subsequently, the 29-year-old scholar arrived in the city for the first time on August 6 that same year. This is evidenced by archived letters addressed to the manager of the Mountainous Part of the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia.

“Mendeleyev, Professor at St. Petersburg University and Acting State Councilor, is being delegated with the highest permission to the Caucasus, for a comprehensive study of our oil industry. Notifying Your Excellency about this, the Mining Department is honored to humbly ask you, my lord, to issue orders to provide Professor Mendeleyev with assistance from the Office entrusted to you during the fulfillment of the assignment vested in him,” one of the letters said.

First of all, Mendeleyev visited the oil fields of the Absheron Peninsula in order to study the condition of the oil fields in Baku and Kokorev’s refinery in Surakhani. It was his first familiarization with the oil industry. Over the course of a month, Mendeleyev presented to Kokorev a number of practical proposals on altering technological processes at the plant. Kokorev received a multitude of ideas on improving technological processes along with an annual layout of the oil distillation device. Mendeleyev also suggested ensuring an uninterrupted operation of the refinery.

Transporting raw materials and finished products was extremely costly at the time. Wagons and trucks were used to transport oil to refineries and it was taken onward to the seaport. The Absheron Peninsula where the oil-extracting industry was mostly based was linked to both Russia and the central part of Iran at the time through the VolgaCaspian canal. In an effort to streamline this process, Mendeleyev also suggested laying oil and kerosene pipes between the wells and the refinery, as well as between refineries and the seaport. Moreover, Mendeleyev noted that the whole bulk of oil should not undergo separation in Baku and some of it should be transported to the seaport via pipelines and poured to large iron-made tanks upon vessels in order to further deliver it to a number of cities. Mendeleyev also believed generating only kerosene from oil was insufficient and lubricants that are usually discarded due to their uselessness could also be produced. Such processed products could be in demand in the central regions of Russia.

Kokorev could not follow all of Mendeleyev’s instructions for economic reasons. However, materializing even a part of his useful suggestions led to the revitalization of the refinery’s operation. The refinery was producing hundreds of thousands of Poods (a Russian measure of weight that equals 16.38 kg) of kerosene annually from 1867. Moreover, Kokorev succeeded in building three more refineries in Surakhani at the expense of the incoming revenues.

As mentioned above, restructuring of the refinery allowed Kokorev to make a profit to the tune of 200,000 Rubles within a year; the refinery was producing 100,000 Poods of kerosene a year in 1867. Kerosene from this source was delivered to Tiflis, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of the Empire.

In 1886, Mendeleyev was hosted by the imperial Russian Technical Society to give a public lecture on the oil business. This organization played a major role in the development of scientific and technical awareness in Azerbaijan. The opening of the Baku branch of the Russian Technical Society on May 24, 1879 fostered synergy in the Azerbaijani scientific and technical community and allowed it to tackle both theoretical and practical issues set forth by the oil industry and technology and other technical challenges. In his lectures, Mendeleyev focused in detail on relatively advanced methods used in running the refineries, using the data he had collected on oil extraction and refining in the United States and the Caucasus, in particular, in districts across Baku.

Mendeleyev put forward two particularly pressing issues in his lectures. One of these was a complete abolition of the lease system, which hampered the development of the oil industry in Baku at that time, while the other one was the construction of petroleum distillation capacities in central Russia.

Addressing a convention of the Russian Technical Society’s Baku branch held on May 19-20, 1886, Mendeleyev delivered reports on tw

o core issues. In particular, he spoke of the “conditions of further development of the oil business” and “the measures facilitating further development of the Baku oil industry”.

Mendeleyev’s numerous works referenced a program on ways of tapping the oil riches of Baku that was full of far-reaching ideas. In fact, it was Mendeleyev who initiated the establishment of the Russian Technical Society’s Baku branch for the first time in 1879.

A. A. Letny and K.V. Kharichkov, talented disciples who were encouraged by Mendeleyev to move to Baku in 1880 and 1882, respectively, had written scientific works that significantly facilitated the development of the oil refining and chemical industries.

Mendeleyev’s extensive research on oil production and the oil industry technologies led to the creation of a host of outstanding books. These included “The oil industry in the North American state of Pennsylvania and the Caucasus” (1877), “Where to build oil refineries?” (1881), “The Baku oil business” (1886), etc.

Mendeleyev stressed the issue of oil distillation in “Where to build oil refineries?”

“This issue is currently vital and people answer it differently,” Mendeleyev wrote. “Some believe oil distillation established in Baku, which is currently the center of oil extraction, should be maintained, given that fuel is cheap there and the natural product is close. Others presume -- and I agree with them -- that with the abolition of the petroleum excise tax and amid growing domestic consumption of kerosene and the development of domestic and foreign consumption of petroleum lubricating oils, as well as oil, gas, vaseline and similar oil products, a time has really come now to set up refineries in central Russia where oil from Baku and the entire Caucasus may be delivered as crude by water.

In his report on the worldwide exhibition organized in Paris in 1867, Mendeleyev said, “Our oil industry in Russia has a great future, given that Russia possesses greater oil reserves than those of European countries. A great number of unexplored oil fields adjoin the Caucasus Mountains whence oil extraction has a great potential. Even if I don’t reference new fields in Cuba, Baku oil may be the only competition for American oil.”

Until 1858, crude oil was collected in the U.S. with a wool cloth from pits and depressions. Those woolen fabrics absorbed oil from water properly. Production of oil using this method was later eliminated. The first commercial oil well in the U.S. was drilled in 1859 by Edwin Drake. Drake used a method of drilling pits and laying iron-made pipes in wells, attaining certain success in oil extraction. He was therefore dubbed “a legendary colonel”.

The first-ever oil well in the world was drilled by Semyonov in 1848 on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Four years before Drake’s project came to fruition, in 1855, Russian industrialist Sidorov also drilled an oil well in Ukhta.

Mendeleyev described his observations and discoveries in the U.S. in his well-known piece of work titled “The oil industry in the North American state of Pennsylvania and the Caucasus”. First of all, Mendeleyev was amazed over the fact that oil exraction in the U.S. was at its initial stage. Referring to American oil technologies, he wrote, “There is nothing for our Baku and Western European technicians to learn about refining from the Americans. The design of all oil refineries in America is extremely primitive and simple. There are no buildings anywhere, and the cubes used for distillation are open. Thus, distillation is carried out in the open air.”

In 1877, V. I. Ragozin, a merchant, built a plant along the Volga river on Mendeleyev’s advice to produce lubricants from the remainder of kerosene left after oil refining in the Balakhani settlement. Oils of high quality purchased there were selling well both in the domestic and foreign markets. In 1879, Ragozin launched a second crude distillation plant in Konstantinovka near the city of Yaroslavl. The issue of extracting aromatic hydrocarbons from oil was raised at both refineries under the leadership of K. A. Schmidt, Mendeleyev’s assistant. However, the initiative was unsuccessful for a slew of economic reasons.

In 1880, Mendeleyev arrived in Baku for the second time to visit the oil fields throughout the Caucasus. Inspired by the development of the Baku oil industry, Mendeleyev told Golos (The Voice) newspaper, “I am extremely interested in the development of oil production here (Baku) in the last three to four years. In the early 60s, more precisely, when the lease system was in place, there were individual owners of oil-producing wells (like Mirzayev and Burmeister). Oil extraction increased immediately after the abolition of the lease system and the sale of the oil fields to private individuals. Manual drilling of wells was replaced by deep mechanical drilling (30-60 Sazhen, a Russian measure of length equal to around 2.13 meters), which yields a considerable bulk of oil. Compared to 40 pits in 1876, 350 oil wells are available in 1880. Oil is now transported through pipelines instead of barrels. Wagons and earth-moving machines have been replaced by oil pipelines and carriages.”

Mendeleyev noted further that the high oil prices had dropped (from 40 Gapiks during the lease period and ranging from 5 to 15-20 Gapiks during customs clearance); oils were being sold for 2 Gapiks. Excellent and accessible drilling methods have become available, eliminating the reliance on foreign-made equipment.

“Now it is profitable. Export of kerosene and lubricants is expanding dramatically. If research and trade in industrial goods develop freely here, the remaining shortfalls will be eliminated. I should say with a great deal of confidence that this place is second to none among known locations in terms of oil riches. I have seen the oil fields of Pennsylvania. I am convinced that there is an incomparable amount of oil here. And it’s easy to extract it,” Mendeleyev wrote.

“In Baku, where fabrication will cost more, kerosene will cost 15-16 Gapiks on the ground and its transportation by rail will cost 16 Gapiks. Thus, it will be at the same price of 31-32 Gapiks. The remainder on the black coast will be reprocessed and everything will be sold thereafter, but in Baku it is all depreciated. It is now worth ½ Gapiks…But I am fond of the city of Baku and wish it prosperity,” Mendeleyev added.

In 1880, Mendeleyev became even more closely involved in the development of the oil industry. Mendeleyev primarily noted that oil was of great importance for the national economy. He called for a rational use of oil and opposed using it merely as fuel. “Oil is not fuel, you can heat with banknotes too,” he once said.

Mendeleyev argued that not only kerosene, but also many other valuable products could be obtained from oil. For example, he predicted obtaining gasoline from oil in the future, countering the use of oil and oil residues as fuel. He repeatedly noted that using oil as fuel was barbaric.

“It is not enough to condemn the burning and waste of oil under the boilers that are commonly used in Baku. Serious measures should be taken to counter this,” he said.

Opposing all taxes imposed on the oil industry, Mendeleyev suggested levying a tax from all owners of institutions and businesses using oil as fuel.

As for the activity of major oil industrialists based in Baku, such as Kokorev, Mirzayev and Shibayev, Mendeleyev believed their monopolies in the Russian oil market were risky and detrimental to the country.

In 1886, Mendeleyev visited Baku for the third time. In his remarks at a meeting of the Baku branch of the Russian Technical Society held in May 1886, Mendeleyev focused on a number of issues, including the safety of burning kerosene used in lamps. The issue of safe burning of kerosene had long drawn the attention of scientists and the public at large.

Overall, Mendeleyev visited Baku several times, namely, in 1863, 1878 and 1880. In 1886, he paid two visits to the city, i.e. in spring and fall. As mentioned above, Mendeleyev had previously tackled many issues pertaining to the Absheron oil industry. One of the issues addressed during his visit was research regarding the depletion of reserves at the BalakhaniSabunchu oil fields. S. Kvitka, a mining engineer, referred to this matter in a letter addressed on November 18, 1886 to “His Excellency, the head of mining plants and industries, mining engineer Pavel Petrovich Semyannikov”.

“In addition to my reference No.1 dated May 24 this year, I have the honor to announce that since May 21 of this year, I continue to conduct my observations of the oil levels in the wells located in the Balakhani-Sabunchu area and oil production from the monitored wells and collect data likewise regarding signs of oil depletion, in accordance with the instructions of His Excellency, Professor Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev,” says the letter undersigned by S. Kvitka.

The innovations introduced by Mendeleyev, namely, the idea of creating oil reservoirs, pipelines and oil-loading vessels, made a great contribution to the Azerbaijani and world oil industry. One and a half centuries have passed ever since and the Azerbaijanis still remember and revere Mendeleyev. A monument honoring the great and remarkable scientist was erected in the center of Baku.

References

1. А.А.Вердизаде. Д.И. Менделеев и его роль в развитии бакинской нефтяной промышленности. Баку, издательство «Государственная научнотехническая нефтяная и горная литература». 1951. с.47-49

2. ГИА АР, Фонд 98, оп. 1, ед.хр.268, Министерство Государственного Имущества Горный Департамент, Господину, Управляющему Горной Частью на Кавказе и за Кавказом, 23 Апреля 1886 г.

3. А.А.Вердизаде. Великий русский ученый Д. И. Менделеев. Баку, Азернешр. 1950. 69 сс27

4. Труды Бакинского Отделения Императорского Русского Технического Общества, Баку, 1886, Н1.

5. Г.Д. Амиркулиев, Д.И. Менделеев и Бакинская нефть, Баку, 1967 г. 6 апреля, стр.3

6. Д.И.Менделеев, «Где строить нефтяные заводы?», Приложение к журналу Русского Физико-Химического Общества, Санкт-Петербург, 1881 г. 84с., стр. 1

7. Газета «Голос», 22 сентября 1880 г.

8. Газета «Бакинские известия», 24 августа 1886 г.

9. Национальное Архивное Управление. фонд № 92, с.1, св 268, стр.5

10. ГИА АР, Фонд 98, оп. 1, ед.хр.268, Министерство