In 1836–1837, Nikolay Voskoboynikov reorganized the entire oil storage and delivery system in Baku and Balakhany on the basis of his own design. Five Balakhany oil cellars with a total capacity of more than 14,650 barrels were connected by inclined stone canals. On one side, a building was constructed to receive oil removed from the wells. Inside it, four stone reservoirs were set up, each with a capacity of three barrels, from which the oil was released along an inclined canal into a settling reservoir. Once the oil had settled, it was poured into an inclined canal, along which it flowed by gravity into cellars for storage or into a delivery reservoir. Stone reservoirs containing copper kettles having three or four openings were set up along the length of the canal opposite the cellars. When the copper kettles were turned, oil flowed through the openings along the branches of the canal into the cellar or into delivery reservoirs. The inclined stone canal around the oil delivery building ended in a copper pipe, through which oil flowed into a copper kettle. The copper kettle could be turned, and had a device that could direct oil among six pipes into wooden barrels having a capacity of 3.4 barrels each.
In the same way, inclined stone canals connected nine cellars in Baku with a total volume of more than 6,125 barrels. On one side of these cellars there was a building for receiving oil transported from the fields. This building housed copper reservoirs, each with a capacity of 3.4 barrels, and reservoirs for oil settling. After settling, the oil flowed along an inclined stone canal into storage cellars or to the building for wholesale and retail delivery. Wholesale delivery was carried out from three reservoirs, and retail delivery was carried out from one reservoir, which was equipped with copper faucets and held 72 barrels. The reorganization of the system for receiving, storing, and delivering oil significantly reduced oil losses and created an orderly system to account for and store it. The quantity of oil sold significantly increased, since it could be stored in special containers and delivered in any weather. For example, the amount of oil sold in Baku in December 1837 was 3,603 barrels, while around 1,200 barrels were sold per month before the reorganization of the oil facilities. In addition, there was a significant reduction in the number of workers, and the work of draining and filling oil was made easier.
Another bottleneck in the Baku fields was the process used to excavate the oil, which was done by hand in leather buckets, or by using horses for deep wells. Of course, such methods were not very productive. In 1839, the Main Administration of the South Caucasus considered Major Voskoboynikov’s proposal to increase the production of oil from hand-dug oil wells by using pumps. However, this plan was not accepted, because piston devices of sufficient output were not yet available.
Yet another of the major’s innovative proposals concerned the problem of shipping oil by sea. In order to load vessels transporting oil via the Caspian Sea, field director Voskoboynikov proposed building “a pier on piles” on the shore and running a “separable railway” to it from the Baku cellars. Setting up such an oil terminal would allow for quick loading of oil onto vessels. But the Caspian Treasury Office also found this plan hare-brained, and rejected it.
The First Refinery on the Absheron Peninsula
Starting in mid-1834, mining engineer Voskoboynikov began experiments involving the distillation of “light” Surakhany and “heavy” Balakhany oil, and the use of the resulting products for lighting. The resulting distillation products, a transparent and colorless oil essence and a greenish-yellow oil essence, burned without soot, and produced a light brighter than that of candles.
At the end of the summer of 1834, Nikolay Voskoboynikov submitted a report to General G. V. Rozen, head commander of affairs in Georgia, titled “Refinement of White Oil at the Baku and Shirvan Fields Using a Distillation Apparatus, and Preparation of Iron Drums for Storage of Same.” He emphasized that “it would be useful to refine it by distillation on site, which would cost the Treasury very little, for the ‘white’ oil wells themselves have natural fires close to them; the advantage of the produced refined oil is that this oil can be sold at a high price and in large quantity.”
The Scholarly Committee of the Mining Engineers Corps approved Major Voskoboynikov’s report on November 14, 1834. Academician Germain Henri Hess, member of the Department of Manufacturing, likewise gave a positive review of Voskoboynikov’s report, proposing that “1) Chemists separate both ‘white’ and ‘black’ petroleum, and determine the properties both of the components and of the fractions obtained from it, and publish such information. 2) At the same time, to accelerate development of its sale, determine if it could be used to prepare varnishes for cast iron and iron and, in general, for all needs for which turpentine is used, and also to produce the carbon black that is put into printing ink, and does ‘black’ petroleum differ from the tar produced from coal, and finally, is it possible to collect the soot coming from the natural petroleum fires, which could be used as a dye for tanneries.”
Further instruction came on January 24, 1835 from an order signed by Count Yegor Kankrin, minister of finance, for Mining Engineer Voskoboynikov, Director of Baku and Shirvan oil and salt fields, regarding “the preparation at the Baku mineral fields of up to 1,000 poods [120 barrels] of refined oil, to be sent to Russia via Astrakhan... and to report to the Treasury Expedition about his actions in this case for its faster fulfillment, to have appropriate observation on his part.”
The Georgian Treasury Expedition’s Report No. 6849 of November 10, 1837, to the Department of Mining and Salt Works of the Ministry of Finance contains interesting details about the plan for the Balakhany factory. It also mentions Report No. 322 of June 12, 1837 by Mining Engineer Voskoboynikov, in which he states that, 1) Having finished his work setting up the Baku reservoirs, which required his continual presence in Baku, he would soon set off for the villages of Balakhany and Surakhany to set up distillation apparatus there to produce “white” oil from “black;” 2) All supplies necessary for this purpose—namely, 450 sheets of 56-inch iron weighing 5,789 pounds, 144 pounds of lead, 144 pounds of ammonium chloride, and 288 pounds of tin—had already been sent to him by Astrakhan second guild merchant Solodovnikov; 3) At his request Baku Commandant Lieutenant Colonel Luzanov had informed him of the assignment to him of one mechanic, two blacksmiths, and two furnace service people from Georgian Line Battalion No. 8 to set up the distillation apparatus, iron drums, and furnaces. He added that to produce “white” oil from “black” oil he had devised a new apparatus presenting all the benefits for protecting the remains of “black” oil from changes in its quality. Moreover, he had discovered natural fires around the village of Balakhany, which could be used to operate several pieces of distillation apparatus, significantly reducing expenses involved in distilling “white” oil; he would present a description and drawings of the newly devised distillation apparatus to bring them into operation on a larger scale.
Detailed information about the technical equipment and facilities at the Balakhany refinery is contained in the drawings and description preserved in the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA) in St. Petersburg. They show that the refinery’s main building contained quadrangular distillation kettles made of roofing iron. Each kettle consisted of two parts. The upper part of the kettle tightly capped the lower part and had two pipes attached to it to remove vapors to receiving vessels. Initially, water was poured into the kettle through a pipe inserted into an opening in the upper part of the kettle; afterward, oil was poured onto the surface of the water through the pipe. The kettles were supported by iron bars and were embedded in the furnace. Pipes passed through reservoirs containing cooling water. The receiving vessel for distilled oil was an iron cylinder immersed in a circular iron vat filled with water. The oil in the kettles was heated using natural gas drawn from nearby gas sources and collected in special reservoirs, and then fed through pipes to burners.