Accordingly, special place in the industrial structure of the country is shared by the fields busy with primary processing of the agricultural raw material. Azerbaijan possesses considerable labor manpower reserves, as the result of natural accretion of population. A far-flung transport network supplies the developing economic relations of Azerbaijan with foreign countries. The main sections of republic economy are the branches of heavy industry and industry on the whole. At the same time, however, these branches are the most prospective, taking into account the growth of foreign investments, directed to the industrial exploitation of new oil deposits.
Oil industry remains to be the main industry and has an ancient history.
Before the revolution oil extraction was mainly developed on the Apsheron peninsula. In 1891, half of the world oil extraction belonged to Azerbaijan. By 1900 more than 3000 bore holes had been bored on the Apsheron peninsula. Besides the local oil barons - Haji Taghiyev, Agha Naghiyev, Murtuza Mukhtarov, the world masters Nobel and Rothschild exploited oil in Baku. Since that time the area of exploited oil lands increased slowly.