So eight decades ago, the history of industrial oil production in Tatarstan began, writes the newspaper “Oil News”. And five years later, in July 1948, that is, 75 years ago, the Romashkinskoye field, one of the largest in the world, was discovered.
Beginning
Isn’t that a solid number: 75 and 80 years old? And if we talk about the rich long-term history of the company, the vast experience gained over the years, then, of course, Tatneft’s authority, prestige, contribution to the oil history of the USSR and Russia are huge and unique. Here, in the community of oil workers and scientists, equipment and technologies were developed that were used throughout the country and abroad. For decades, it was Tatneft that was a testing ground. Records were born here, which contributed to new achievements throughout the country of the Soviets. “For 35 years, the entire economy of the Soviet Union rested on Tatar oil,” Nikolai Baibakov, chairman of the USSR’s State Planning Committee, would later say on one of the industry’s anniversaries.
So what did these 80 years of team work in the country’s oilfield embody? Hard work and hard trials, search and restlessness, courage and loyalty to the cause. During the Great Patriotic War, in the difficult conditions of lack of machinery and equipment, hunger and disorder, exploration well No. 1, drilled near the village of Shugurovo by the team of drillmaster Garif Khamidullin, in August 1943 from a depth of 648 meters gave a source of anhydrous oil with a daily flow of 20 tons. It was the selfless work of wartime oil prospectors and drillers.
On September 17, 1946, Stepan Baklushin’s brigade, in a well drilled near the village of Bavly, from a depth of 1770 meters, received a powerful source of Devonian oil with a daily flow of 500 tons. Less than two years later, well No. 3, drilled by a drilling foreman Sergey Kuzmin team near the village of Romashkino (Timyashevo), produced more than 120 tons of oil per day. So in 1948, the Romashkinskoye field, the famous Romashka, as it is affectionately called by tankers, was discovered, the country’s first oil supergiant, one of the largest oil fields in the world.
Millions of tons of black gold
In April 1950, the Tatneft Production Association was established. And just six years later, the youngest enterprise in the USSR oil industry rose to the top in the oil production industry. In the 60s, Tatarstan’s oil became the locomotive of the entire Soviet industry. During the twenty-year postwar period, the Soviet Union tripled its share of world oil production, ranking second in the world (after the United States) in oil production. So oil became the main strategic product of the USSR.
Photo: PJSC TATNEFT Press Service
Some figures testify to the unique moment of the development of oil fields, the scale of oil production.
So, the first tons of oil were produced in the republic in 1943. After 13 years, Tatneft and Tatarstan become the leader in terms of production of strategic raw materials in the country. After another 13 years, an unprecedented fantastic result for that time and the Soviet oil industry, producing 100 million tons of oil per year.
In 1975, Tatneft reached the maximum annual production level: 103.7 million tons. In a very short period of time, 28 years from the beginning of the development of oil fields, Tatneft produces the first billion tons of oil (1971). Note for clarity that if this amount of black gold is placed in railway tanks, the length of the train will be equal to 167,000 km.
Leader in spirit
And it took only 10 years to extract the second billion black gold, writes “Oil News”.
Photo: PJSC TATNEFT Press Service
Between the second and third trillion, in 1995, Tatneft was one of the first in the Russian oil industry to stabilize the level of oil production and, for the first time in 30 years, increased reserves above the annual production level.
2007 was the year of the production of three billion tons of oil.
Currently, the production volume isTatneft’s reserves are 30 million tons of oil per year, reserves are about 1 billion tons.
Among the Company’s most significant projects are the production of high viscosity oil, the creation of a powerful petrochemical cluster and much more. Tatneft is the only oil company in Russia that has built a large TANECO oil refining complex from scratch.
Tatneft and Tatarstan managed to organize and create a small oil business in the republic: today, about three dozen small oil companies produce oil from geologically complex oil fields with hard-to-recover oil reserves.
“The nails would be made from these people”
The task of the editorial board to write this article turned out to be unexpectedly difficult. How to fit into the periodic format the wonderful history of the Company, rich in events, feats and glorious feats of the team? This is exactly the case when there is something to talk about and something to be proud of.
Kurban Valiev. Photo: PJSC TATNEFT Press Service
Here at Tatneft, excellent specialists and workers have worked and are working. Let us remember our pioneers.
Valeev Kurban Agapovich, participant of the Second World War, the first master of Tatneft in oil production, the first Hero of Socialist Labor in Tatarstan (1959). He has been in the oil industry since the 1920s of the last century: excavator, operator, foreman of the Grozneft association. In 1950-1980 he worked at Tatneft in three oil and gas production departments as foreman. Returning to his homeland at the time of the discovery of the Romashkinskoye field, the pioneer put all his experience and knowledge into his work. Then, the exploratory wells were scattered for tens of kilometers. There was no electricity, no roads, no transportation, no skilled labor. It was Kurban Agapovich who toured the villages, met sensible local boys, taught them the oil business.
Tachaev Valentin Alexandrovich is also one of the pioneers. His work trajectory is from the pommaster to the head of the NGDU Suleevneft.
Valentin Tachaev. Photo: PJSC TATNEFT Press Service
He avoided high words, spoke frankly: “I would like life to turn out differently. For example, living in Africa. It’s hot there. I hate winter and cold. Everything for me, except my stomach, froze. In Kazakhstan, my hands are frozen, here in Tatarstan, my legs. Of them, frozen, my skin (read – skin) was torn off more than once. The worst thing is hunger. There are no dining rooms. In the shops, except for “rusty” herring and gingerbread, which had to be cut with an axe, there was nothing. Although we had some money in our pockets, we were hungry. So you wander the pits all day hungry, even howling like a wolf. It was especially difficult in winter. On foot, unbearably cold, but in an open cabin is no better. I remember how we once went from the village of Zai-Karatay to the village of Almetyevo. The car broke down. I had to sit in the hallway of the barracks all night. During the day there was a thaw, and at night the frost hit, and my boots froze to my feet. It’s dawn, let’s move on. In the village of Abdrakhmanovo, construction girls who didn’t know a word of Russian got into a car. Seeing my condition, understanding everything without words, they took off my boots with difficulty and began to warm my feet. Tears flowed from the wild pain. The girls helped me a lot then… I hated winter for the rest of my life…”
The generation of Valeev and Tachaev completely drank the difficulties of the work and life of the pioneers.
What was the cost of eliminating the accidents that occurred almost daily on the pipelines? The operators and foremen were in the pits without sleeping or eating, they worked until they were completely exhausted. They say they helped each other loosen the twisted fingers to grab the lever and shovel again. These pioneers were strong and stubborn: “The nails would be made from these people: there would be no stronger nails in the world.”
By the way
– Local women and girls worked selflessly in exploratory well No. 1, which discovered large amounts of Tatar oil during the war. They are affectionately called by people “drillers, oil workers.”
– In the 60s, there was a joke about the “second invasion of the Tatars”: Moscow put Tatneft specialists in key positions in the country’s oil industry.
– The most bitter memory of Kurban Valeev: a dozen kilometers from the Nazis, he blew up his wells so that the enemy would not get Caucasian oil …
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PJSC “TATNEFT” is named after V.D. Shashin
