Ivan Mirzoev (Armenian: Հովաննես Միրզոյան) (died 1880) was an Armenian businessman, the first person to drill oil in Baku and is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the Baku oil industry.[1] He founded the Mirzoev Brothers oil company, which at the time had become one of the most effective and sustainable companies in the world oil industry.[2][3] He was of Armenian descent.[4]

Life

Born into an Armenian family in Tbilisi, Ivan Mirzoev moved to Baku and began working in the silk trade. In 1855, he then opened a fishery company on the banks of the Caspian sea, which employed 2,500 people.[5]

Oil business

In the years between 1821 and 1872, the Russian Czarist government maintained a monopoly over the Apsheron peninsula's oil fields.[4]

In 1863, through governments concessions, Mirzoev opened the first oil refinery in the Apsheron peninsula.[6] Mirzoev, who held concessions in Apsheron since 1863, immediately took up the opportunity to build his own drilling sites once the monopoly of the Russian government ended in 1872.[4]

In Surakhani, Mirzoev founded two kerosene factories and produced 160 thousand tons of kerosene, amounting to 260 thousand rubles.[7] This project made him the first exporter of petroleum out of Azerbaijan.[7]

In 1871, using wooden rods, Mirzoev drove a well 45 meters deep which produced a daily output of 2000 cubic meters in the Balakhany oil fields.[8] This because the first successful oil drilling operation in Baku's history.[9][4]

The success of the drilling of Mirzoev was the first element contributing to the Baku oil rush.[4] Mirzoev eventually became a major purchaser of oil in and around Baku.[4]

After Mirzoev's death, his wife Daria, sons Gregory and Melkon, and daughter Maria founded the oil industry and the partnership known as Brothers Mirzoev with a grand capital of 2.1 million rubles in 1886.[2] The company remained active until 1918 when it was forced to shut down due to massacres against Armenians.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^
    • L. Altstadt, Audrey L. Altstadt (1980). Economic development and political reform in Baku: the response of the Azerbaidzhani bourgeoisie. The Wilson Center, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. p. 9. Retrieved 22 February 2013. Ter-Gukasov was the first tax-fanner for the oil lands, and was succeeded by Mirzoev, who would drill the first successful well
    • Daintith, Terence (2010). Finders keepers?: how the law of capture shaped the world oil industry (1. publ. ed.). Washington, DC: RFF Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-933115-84-9. Retrieved 23 November 2012. The first drilled wells were completed only in 1871-1872 by the last holder of the contract monopoly, Mirzoev.
    • Гулишамбаров Ст., Очерк развития и современное состояние нефтяной промышленности Бакинского района (Сборник сведений о Кавказе, т. VII, Тифлис, 1880г.). С. 345
    • Eyyuboğlu, Osman Aray, B. Baykal (1999). The newly independent states of inner Asia and Turkey's policy. Tokyo, Japan: National Institute for Research Advancement. ISBN 978-4-7955-7417-5.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c Ов.Мирзояна (in Russian). Armillion. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  3. ^ Leeuw, Charles van der (1998). Azerbaijan : a quest for identity (1. publ. in the United States. ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-21903-1.
  4. ^ a b c d e f L. Altstadt, Audrey (1992). The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity Under Russian Rule (illustrated ed.). Hoover Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8179-9183-8. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  5. ^ Caucasian calendar 1863, Tbilisi, 1862., P. 397
  6. ^ Leeuw, Charles van der (2000). Oil and gas in the Caucasus & Caspian : a history (1. publ. in the United States of America. ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-23254-2.
  7. ^ a b Meliksetian], Khachatur Dadaian; [perevod s armianskogo Lilit (2007). Armiane i Baku: 1850-ye gg.-1920 g. Erevan: Nauchno-obrazovatelʹnyĭ fond "Noravank". ISBN 978-99941-999-5-2.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Icon". Icon: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology. 7–10. F. Cass: 156. 2001.
  9. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G., ed. (2004). The Armenian people from ancient to modern times (1. paperback ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-4039-6422-9. Among the earliest men to exploit the "black gold" of Baku were Armenians, including M. I. Mirzoev, who drilled the first successful well in 1871.
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