Do you know that Fedor Pryadunov is considered to be the forefather of the Russian oil and founder of Russia’s first oil field? He was the first to learn how to extract oil in industrial amount, invented a method for its distilling and built the first oil refinery in Russian history.
Fyodor Pryadunov was born in 1694 in the city of Kargopol (now the Arkhangelsk region of the Russian Federation) and since 1725 was engaged in the search and development of silver and lead ores in Pomerania. Today, Pryadunov would be called a businessman or entrepreneur.
But somehow he heard the stories of miners about an unusual oily liquid that appeared from the ground in the area of the Ukhta river. This liquid burned perfectly, and was also perfectly suitable, for example, for lubricating the wheels of a cart. Of course, the smart Pryadunov was interested in these stories. And in the early 1740s, he went looking for it in the Ukhta area and soon found a place where an oil fountain was pouring directly from the river. A year later, Pryadunov built there a small factory for the production of oil. In the spring of 1746, first oil from Ukhta water was produced there.
The production process of mining was innovative! A quadrangular wooden frame was placed on the bottom of the river above the oil spring. Inside it was a van with holes cut in the bottom. Oil from the spring came into the van through the holes, and the penetration of water inside was prevented by the water cut designed by Pryadunov. At the same time, the workers stood on the edges of the frame and used ladles with long handles to scoop out the oil from the van. Having collected 40 poods of oil from the river surface, Pryadunov in 1748 delivered it to Moscow, to the laboratory, and carried out the distillation, thus receiving a “yellow oil” or kerosene-like product. It was a great achievement!
Further more. According to his own drawings, Pryadunov set up an oil refining site site next to the field. He designed an oil refinery, made a warehouse for storing raw materials and empty containers, built a repair shop. The extracted oil was stored in wells dug in the ground. By the way, Western’s engineers implement the Pryadunov’s idea only a century later!
This is the Russian oil history. And Pryadunov entered it as the founder of the oil industry!
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