No. 2, 2008

Thirty years ago the USSR held its first-ever international exhibition of the oil and gas industry

Starting with the 1950s the rates of oil production in the USSR were higher than in most of the oil-producing countries. In 1974, the Soviet Union even surpassed the United States in this respect, becoming the world’s largest oil producer. In 1975 the USSR held first place in the aggregate production of all types of liquid hydrocarbons. The country demonstrated its achievements in oil-and-gas production at its first international exhibition which opened in June 1978 in Baku, capital of the Azerbaijan Republic.

Continuing the traditions of the past

An analysis of the socio-economic situation in the USSR in the 1970s shows that the high rates of oil production were largely responsible for the country’s stability in regard to energy production and the whole of its economy. However, what was required by Soviet engineers and scientists was an exchange of the latest industrial developments with the Western countries and a study of their best practices. Bearing this in mind, the Soviet government decided to hold the country’s first international oil industry exhibition.

Because of the great political and economic importance attached to it, preparations for the exhibition began already in early 1977. It was no accident that Baku was chosen as the site of the exhibition: the city had long-standing traditions of oil production.

The government of Azerbaijan headed by Heydar Aliyev, First Secretary of the republic’s Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CC CPSU), allocated a site with an area of 15,000 m² where it was decided to place an exhibition pavilion and outdoor facilities. In one of his speeches Heydar Aliyev said: “This exhibition is to play a positive role in the life of our republic. We bear the high responsibility placed on us by the country’s leadership and by our multinational people. The exhibition must be held at the highest possible level.”

The first international oil and gas exhibition of 1978 was attended by over 2,000 guests from more than 40 countries of the world.

The exhibition opened on June 17, 1978. Read out during the opening ceremony was a message of greeting from CC CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, which said in part: “The Soviet Union’s friendly initiative should further unite the scientific community.” The exhibition was opened by Alexey Kosygin, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, who briefly reviewed the state of the country’s oil and gas industry for the period of 1970-1977. Concluding his speech, Alexey Kosygin said: “The oil and gas industry plays an ever more prominent role in global economy and human progress. Realizing the importance of the tasks facing the world, we would really appreciate all-round cooperation among the leading oil and gas powers in the future.” His speech was enthusiastically approved by all those present, setting the correct tone to the entire period during which the exhibition would be open.

Demonstration of achievements

Commenting on the opening of the exhibition in Baku, the newspaper Izvestia wrote: “The event has become a factor promoting the stabilization and further strengthening of friendly relations between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world.” The guests and other visitors to the exhibition paid close attention to the Soviet part of the exposition with the stands of leading scientific research institutes which put emphasis on the technology of oil and gas production.

The chief organizer of the Soviet part of the exposition was the USSR Ministry of the Oil Industry. The entire course of the preparations for the exhibition and its conduct were under the personal direction of the Minister Nikolay Maltsev. A number of technical innovations unparalleled anywhere in the world were presented by the Gubkin Institute of Oil, the VNIIneft, the TatNIPIneft, the Giprotyumenneftegaz design institute, and the Siberian research institute of the oil industry. A prominent place was occupied by innovations in the field of oil production produced by the USSR Academy of Sciences.

The international oil and gas exhibition in Baku enabled specialists to work efficiently by sharing experience with their colleagues. Soviet scientists and engineers and their foreign counterparts had numerous discussions on technical subjects of mutual interest. They also exchanged views on the future of their scientific and technical cooperation.

A total of about 110,000 people visited the first international oil-and-gas exhibition in Baku, which indicated high interest on the part of both Soviet and foreign specialists.

Borrowing the experience of foreign oilmen

Among the visitors to the exhibition there were large delegations of foreign specialists. This apparently was connected with the start of a Soviet-American energy dialog in 1977, which had a wide response in the world.

The American exposition was supervised by Wade Watkins, acting Deputy Director of the Division of Oil, Gas and Shale Production Technology of the U.S. Department of Energy. In his own words, he was certain that the friendly initiative of the Soviet government would stimulate the scientific and technical activity in the development and production of hydrocarbons, and also bring forth technical and technological innovations necessary for the industry’s dynamic development. Presented under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy were expositions of its research center Philips Petroleum (Osage County, Oklahoma), Kevany Oil (Osage County, Oklahoma) and B&N Oil companies (Nowata County, Oklahoma). The latter presented its latest equipment for pumping-in micellar solutions and polymers. The American delegation demonstrated also the results of their research in geochemistry, in the field of pressure maintenance and raising oil recovery, and improving the technology of developing low-gravity and bituminous oil, as well as in determining the basic properties of petroleum.

Furthermore, the American delegation to the Soviet exhibition included a number of prominent scientists and public figures. Among them were: T. Donovan, a geologist from Arizona and a specialist of the U.S. Geological Survey; V. Robinson, the head of a section at the research center of the U.S. Department of Energy; R. Johansen, the head of a section dealing with oil production at the research center of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in the city of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; L. Schreider, a deputy director at the research center of the U.S. Department of Energy; G. Dean, an operations manager at the U.S. Department of Energy; L. Marchant, a project manager at the research center of the U.S. Department of Energy; G. Stosur, the head of a section dealing with methods of raising oil recovery, the U.S. Department of Energy; A. Leighton, an operations managing engineer of the U.S. Department of Energy; V. Heines, the head of the physics section of the U.S. Department of Energy; J. Boll, the director of the ERDA research center of the U.S. Department of Energy, etc.

Several important conferences and seminars were held as part of an exchange of experience. Recalling this, Patrice Roit, a representative of the French Ministry of Energy, wrote: “I was truly overwhelmed by what I had seen and heard. There in Baku an impetus was given to future technical and technological development. I believe that in the nearest future the oil powers will surprise the most inveterate skeptics with new records in hydrocarbon production. I’m certain that such events are bound to bring the prosperity of mankind nearer.” This view was shared by a great many guests from the Warsaw Treaty countries, as well as those from the Middle East, United States and Canada, and Western Europe.

It is noteworthy that many of the projects presented by Soviet scientists at the international oil and gas exhibition of 1978 prompted the USSR Council of Ministers to adopt on April 8, 1983, a most important decision entitled “On approving the classification of the prospective and forecast resources of oil and combustible gas.” This was only one of a number of innovative decisions in oil industry.

Remarkably, the international oil and gas exhibition of 1978 in Baku started the tradition of holding regularly similar exhibitions in Moscow. These international oil and gas exhibitions are among the most significant events in the life of the world community of businessmen, scientists and engineers.