Société Anonyme de St.-Pétersbourg-Sabountchinskoé pour l’Industrie du Naphte et le Commerce
С -Петербургско-Сабунчинское Нефтепромышленное и Торговое Акционерное Общество
St. Petersburg-Sabuntchi Oil and Trade Joint-Stock Company
Other city spellings: Bakou
Formed in 1911 with head office in Baku. Initial capital was 1,000,000 roubles composed of 400,000 roubles in ordinary shares of 100 roubles and 600,000 roubles in privilege shares of 100 roubles. In 1913, capital was increased to 2,000,000 roubles in shares of 100 roubles.
Company name (in French) on 1911 provisional certificate was: La Societé Commerciale et Industrielle de Naphte de St. Petersbourg-Sabuntchi.
1911
Description
The company was formed to exploit oil deposits at Sabunchi, north-east of Baku. The existence of petroleum around Baku has been known since the 8th century. The first oil-well was drilled in 1846, but serious commercial exploitation began only in 1872 and by the beginning of the twentieth century the Baku oil fields were the largest in the world. By 1900 the city had more than 3,000 oil-wells, of which 2,000 were producing oil at industrial levels. Towards the end of the twentieth century much of the onshore petroleum had been exhausted, and drilling had extended into the sea offshore.