How everything started On a journey to Baku in 1874, Robert
Nobel buys a small refinery and a parcel of land from the master
of the river boat he is travelling with. Just a year later, he
finds oil on the island of Cheleken in the Caspian Sea. This is
the start of the oil industry that was to dominate the Russian
oil market a long time into the future. The brothers Robert,
Ludvig and Alfred Nobel were well-informed of developments in
the technical and chemical areas. Ludvig had heard that the
Russian, Kokeroff, had built a small factory in Baku in the
southern Caucasus in 1857, where he made kerosene, paraffin and
started the first refinery in 1863. In a letter to Robert in
1864, Ludvig felt that the "price is still too high. This oil
will, however, probably be able to compete with American oil
soon enough. The resources are just as rich as those in America.
Generally speaking, Petroleum has a bright future in every way".
The Russian government abolished this form of leasing land in
January 1873. The state wa