The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-08-09
RUssIAs PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.


Bankers Monthly 80 j.
State department statistics just hand would seem to m
dictate that Russian petroleum is successfully compens W"
the American product in the English and German markets
while Russian papers predict that the recent opening ioi
traffic extension OF the Wladikawkas ra'osu ~
afordug direct all-ral route to the Black sea p - ~
vorossik and the German frontier, is hkey 70 ~
Russian export trade still further.
The development Of the Russian petroleum INDUSTRY %
almost entirely the work OF foreign capital ea py uI
great hnanciers the Rohschids aud Nobel ana IL - %
within the last few years that it has become iae ~ ~
worlds market German imports Of Russian petroleum.
which amounted in 1908 10 only per cent Of her total I'M
ports Of that product had doubled in volume III 1899 anu ~
year amounted nearly three times the proportion %
In Great Britain, where few years ago American peoo
enjoyed practical monopoly the gain has been even more
marked and credited to the large interests of English capt
tas in the Russian oil fields Imports OF Russian pero
leum last year equaIed receipts from this country.
The large proportions which the Russian INDUSTRY mas
reached is shown by the fact that year the total output OF
netroeun and lis products from the Bau fields amounted to
the Of sro77ssooo gallons as compared
with oissssooo gallons in 800. The steady manner III
which production of these fields has developed can better
be perhaps in the following table giving the gross ana
production and the daily average for period OF tree
years in barrels of ortytwo gallons viz
1903. 1900, 1900
Gross production ....,.sS.ass,4ot 6JOs3o 7zotS743
Net production ......ss 3o9,67o s6I3742s 63,St64os
Daily average .,......... I46t3o5 1874 I74S39
The production is due TO the starting OF large
number OF wells 44s wells having an average produe
3o4 day we'll having been completed
900 compared with $40 wells with average produc
ton barrels per day in 1900 Some of these wells are
the largest producers in the world The largest struck IN
June produced during the month of July average OF $4,000
barrels day compared with barrels day from the
largest the Texan wells The records show that many
wells struck in the Baku fields past years have started of
with barrels day than 100000 barrels
having been sold from in less than forty days
The profit English capital from the working of these
wells has been very in spite Of the heavy taxes i'm
he Enp have
practically to themselves until recently when German and
American capital has awakened in degree to the
profit be derived from the development Of this and
other virgin fields in Russia
The greatest drawbacks the profitable working OF the
oil fields in the past have been excessive taxes
and inadequate of transportation though the former
has fallen heavily production destined for export
The consumption refined oil in Russia does exceed two
gallons per capita per direct result Of the govern
men OF kopecks (about 9 cents) per gallon of
fined oil consumed The excessive nature of this tax will
pear the fact that the of refined oil Baku but
per gallon. The shipment of refined oil for Russian
consumption. however showed material increase 1900
the figures for previous years amounting as7oooooo
gallons gain from 1900 of nearly gallons 1t is
believed however that part OF this increase exported via
the Baltic ports and the German frontier.
The branch OF the Wadkawkas railroad connecting
Bau with the main Russian railway system Petrovsk
likely materially increase the volume of oil through
Russia itself and into Germany The freight
the ara present higher than by sea
shipment Perovsk and thence by rail Novorossk
the percentage of loss less and it is probable that freight
win be reduced in the future allow the a-ra
route to successfully compete with the and rail
Russian newspapers state that the government has made
very low freight to the German frontier where it
by reduced the German railways in order induce
export to western Germany by rail
While the shipment of petroleum products from Baum,
the original shipping point fell off slightly last year. amount
ing to 33395s205 gallons compared with 37o,34587s in
1890 and 34774855s gallons in 1893 exports from Novoros
ssk almost exactly doubled aggregang 3646Is gallons
in against total OF G,3653S5 gallons in 1900 OF
the shipped from Novorossisk 1900
gallons to the United Kingdom, compared with
total of G26tIIss gallons that destination in 1900
With but exception all the ankage Novorossisk be
longs to the Wladkawkas railway which either leases TO
shippers for term of charges about half kopeck per pood
Co. 20 cents per 3o,I12 pounds) per month for storage
The hitherto unquesoned supremacy of American pc
troleum in western Europe therefore apparently to be
actively contested in the future than is now the case
Whether domestic consumption OF refined oil encouraged
by the Russian by the removal of present
policy of fostering the export trade continued the industry
bound to add much the prosperity of thai
country and to provide profitable traffic for the newly
constructed railways in the Caucasus