Batumi oil pipeline: A discussion between two imperial societies about the fate of the project (1888–1892)


The paper examines the 1888–1892 discussion on oil export and construction of the Baku – Batumi pipeline. Therefore the history of oil production is reviewed from thenew perspective – as a public initiative that had been developing in the RussianEmpire in the last quarter of the 19th century. In this context, the themes concernedwith the making of Russian oil industry are reviewed. The main groups involved in thediscussion of oil export policy are described, as well as their positions and arguments.Special attention is given to the discussion between the members of the ImperialSociety for Promotion of Russian Trade Shipping and the Imperial Russian TechnicalSociety. The author concludes that a public association (Imperial Society forPromotion of Russian Trade Shipping) that had no oil resources of its own managed toimpact the distribution of these resources. To maintain its position against oil export,the Society united its supporters, using both the rational, “modernist” arguments andtraditional ideas appealing to their patriotic feelings.

 
 

Recommended bibliographic description

, Batumi oil pipeline: A discussion between two imperial societies about the fate of the project (1888–1892), Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki [Studies in History of Science and Technology], , p.  523-532

     
    © Studies in the History of Science and Technology: Quarterly scientific journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2015)
    ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143