No. 3, 2007
Irina Yevstigneyeva
THE TRAILBLAZER OF REFINING NEAR MOSCOW
Activity of the Partnership for Russo-American Oil Production was of major significance for development of the Russian refining industry
Among the refining companies in the European part of Russia, the Partnership for Russo-American Production, which operated successfully for 37 years in a Moscow suburb, was leading the country in terms of new technologies and equipment introduction and production of high quality petroleum products.
A thorny path
At the start of 1881, an application was submitted to the Moscow Governor General by an American citizen, engineer Alexander Barry, as well as by Russian citizens - retired Colonel (Corps of Railroad Engineers) Nikolay Sytenko and titular counsellor Nikolay Rubinsky, for permission to organize and open an refinery in the Moscow Uyezd (district). The state register for 1881 reads: "Under number 610 this certificate of the Moscow Guberniya Government is hereby granted to Citizen of the United States of North America Alexander Barry, retired Colonel Nikolay Sytenko and titular counsellor Nikolay Rubinsky to the effect that they are permitted to maintain, in the Moscow Uyezd, in the proximity of the Kuskovo railroad station, in a land plot under the name of 6th sector of the village of Perovo, which belongs to them, a factory for producing petroleum products. The eleventh day of March, 1881."
Thanks to the energetic efforts of Alexander Bari and largely "under the provision of the Cabinet of Ministers, approved by His Imperial Majesty on February 20, 1881," Emperor Alexander II permitted "foundation of the Partnership as a joint-stock company under the name of the "Partnership for Russo-American Oil Production."
In the first paragraph of the charter, the Partnership's chief objective was defined as being: "For the organization and maintenance of a distilling and refining plant, Moscow Guberniya, Moscow Uyezd, on the land plot located in the proximity of the station of Kuskovo of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod railroad line ... and also for the production of mineral oils and other products." The Partnership's main capital consisted of 375,000 rubles and was divided into 375 shares worth a thousand rubles each. The area of the land plot allocated for construction of the plant was 2,070 square sazhens (sazhen=1.83 m) of land. Construc-tion and installation of the equipment was performed by the engineering company of Alexander Bari, while the work was managed by the outstanding Russian mechanical engineer Vladimir Shukhov.
June 8, 1881 may be considered as the date when production was launched at the refinery. According to witnesses who visited the plant, it was located "in the Vykhinsky Volost, in the parish of Kuskovo, on land belonging to the Partnership, adjacent to the Nizhny Novgorod railroad line. The oil was brought in along the River Volga from Baku to Nizhny Novgorod and from it in railroad cisterns to the Kuskovo platform... In the yard of the plant, there are several hermetically-sealed reservoirs for storing the oil, which are dug into the ground and accommodate 5,000 buckets of oil each. There are 15 people working at the refinery."
The journal Financial, Industrial and Trade Herald, in a review of Russian industry in 1881, noted, in particular, that "the Partnership for Russo-American Production may, in time, seize leading positions on the Russian market in the sphere of illuminating oil production." The journal stressed that "the company's major successes are associated with the name of Mr. Bari."
Against all expectations, however, over the first eighteen months the plant was not, in fact, able to operate at full capacity: production was hampered by irregular oil supplies, equipment defects and shortcomings in the refining process. During 1881, the plant managed to produce only 125 poods (1 pood=16,38 kg) of lamp oil. The kerosene produced by the Partnership was also of quite poor quality. The radical measures undertaken by Pyotr Gubonin (who became virtually the sole proprietor of the enterprise at the beginning of 1882) proved timely: he paid out 375,000 rubles for the interests in the Partnership and (on the advice of experts) decided to process not only oil but fuel oil residue as well for producing lubricants.
By May 1882, the Partnership for Russo-American Production decided to participate in the All-Russia Industry and Art Exhibition held in Moscow. This was a bold decision, considering the bad year the company had experienced in 1881. In spite of doubts, however, when the commission of experts considered the Partnership's exhibits, it came to the unanimous conclusion that "the construction of the plant, the production process, and the products exhibited are exellent." The opinion of well-known Moscow University Professor Vladimir Markovnikov should be cited. He stressed that "the Partnership produces all types of petroleum products. The size of the plant allows it to produce up to 500,000 poods of different oils, worth of 1 million rubles. The products are of very good quality, but the market significance of the refinery, opened only in 1881, has not yet been determined." At the Moscow Exhibition, the partnership received a bronze medal "for petroleum products of very good quality". Thus, in less than one year, Pyotr Gubonin had managed to turn round the loss-making plant into a profitable business with good prospects.
On the advice of the great Mendeleyev
On June 12, 1882, an event occurred in the history of the refinery that did much to determine its future. The great Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleyev became the plant's consultant in technological and chemical production matters, having signed a four-year contract with the management under which he assumed the obligations to advise on petroleum products production, in particular on "implementation of a new method for distilling oil." The scientist studied heavy and light petroleum hydrocarbons and many other chemical compounds. The plant's engineers designed, installed, tested and put into operation the world's first non-waste continuous oil distillation apparatus. In 1883, Dmitry Mendeleyev proposed a method for and organized production of heavy lighting oils and resolved the problems associated with their safe use. He introduced the technology of four types of soot-free and fire-safe oils: high quality kerosene (ignition t = 40oC), "astrolin" (ignition t = 60oC), "bakuleum" (ignition t =50-70oC) and "pyroneft" ("pyro-oil") (ignition t =100-130oC).
Dmitry Mendeleyev's work advanced very successfully. Largely thanks to his talent as a researcher and engineer, in 1882, the plant of the Partnership for Russo-American Production produced 80,000 poods of illuminating oils (including kerosene) and 40,000 poods of lubricating oils, and oil waste (black oil) was sold as a commercial product. Mendeleyev left, however, before the term of the contract expired, having worked at the Kuskovo refinery for only three years.
Major successes and warranted recognition
By the 1890s, the Partnership firmly ranked among the leaders of the Russian refining industry. Judging from the data published in the Reports of the Partnership for Russo-American Production for 1882-1907, production volumes rose every year up to 1904: 84,000 poods of kerosene were produced in 1882, 330,000 poods in 1891, 420,000 poods in 1902; 25,000 poods of pyroneft in 1882, 47,000 poods in 1891, 62,000 poods in 1902; 55,000 poods of black oil in 1882, 93,000 poods in 1891, and 134,000 poods in 1902. The Guide to Factories and Plants in European Russia and the Kingdom of Poland for 1887 says of the Kuskovo plant: "Processes up to 700,000 poods of Caucasus oil, from which it produces 154,000 poods of lubricating oil, 231,000 poods of kerosene and 245,000 poods of tar. Productivity is 540,000 rubles. 153 workers." By 1902, the Partnership reached the peak of its refining and sales of products: sales revenues amounted to 1,043,000 rubles.
In the summer of 1885, in Antwerp (Belgium), at the World Exhibition, the output of the Partnership for Russo-American Production received its first international award - the silver medal for "mineral lubricating oils."
At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, the Partnership was awarded a gold medal for the extensive range of high quality petroleum products it presented.
In October 1893, at the World Columbian Exhibition, dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, the Partnership was once again triumphant, receiving an honorable medal of the exhibition and a bronze medal "for petroleum lighting and lubricating products."
At the 1896 All-Russia Industrial and Arts Fair in Nizhny Novgorod, which showed the whole world what Russia had achieved, the exhibit of the Partnership for Russo-American Production was highly appraised by the jury and the company was awarded a gold medal "for production of a diverse range of superb quality products in central Russia, with the participation of Russian engineers, for expansion of production and for concern for employees."
By the end of the 19th century, the Partnership's products were sold beyond Russia: about a third of its output was exported to France, Germany, and Britain. At the plant, there were 12 refining cubes in operation with a volume of up to 7,000 poods and 8 steam boilers. The annual output produced was estimated at 325,000 rubles. In addition, the plant's employees had mandatory insurance and there was a "savings and loan cash office" and a health center at the works.
At different times, outstanding Russian engineers and scientists worked at the Partnership's plant, among them Vasily Izhevsky, Mitrofan Andreyev, Ivan Kuzmin, Alexander Kapatsinsky, Boris Ravich and others.
Over the 37 years during which its operated, the Partnership for Russo-American Production grew from a modest factory outside Moscow into one of the leaders of the Russian refining industry. Its history is quite instructive for today's oilmen, too, as an example of fruitful international cooperation in the sphere of refining.
