Development in the oil and gas sector

In the 30s of the 20th century, a targeted search for gas fields began in the USSR. In 1935, the first pure gas field in the USSR, Sedyolskoye, was discovered in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic near Ukhta. By the end of the 30s, more than 50 natural gas fields were discovered in Azerbaijan, the Volga region, the North Caucasus and Central Asia. Over the next two decades, large gas fields were discovered in the Saratov and Tyumen regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories, and in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1946, the first main gas pipeline Saratov – Moscow was put into operation. In the 1960s, new large fields appeared on the country's gas map - Urengoyskoye, Medvezhye, Yamburgskoye in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the RSFSR. In 1984, the Soviet Union took first place in gas production.

In 1970, the “deal of the century” was signed - a “gas-pipe” contract between the USSR and Germany, which allowed in 1973 to begin gas supplies from the USSR to Europe via the constructed gas pipeline. During Soviet times, the Bratstvo, Soyuz and Progress gas pipelines were built to supply gas to Eastern Europe.

Oil production was actively developing. The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in Western Siberia became the main oil-producing region of the USSR, and it was there that the Samotlor oil field, the largest in the country, was discovered in 1965.

In 1964, the first export oil pipeline, which was called “Friendship,” was put into operation. Through it, oil from the Volga-Ural region was supplied to socialist countries - Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, as well as to the country’s ports on the Baltic