Inspiration in the oil industry’s heritage

OPEC Bulletin Commentary – May-June 2024

Industrial heritage has much to teach us about humanity’s shared history. It encompasses many components: economic change; engineering discovery; cultural heritage; regional identity and scientific progress. Fascinating as a field of study in its own right, industrial heritage can inform policymakers and make a valuable contribution to discussion on future energy pathways. The oil industry constitutes an important field of study within the concept of industrial heritage.

Preserving the history of the oil industry is a responsibility many countries across the globe take seriously, and several OPEC Member Countries are leaders in this regard. To name but a few examples, IR Iran’s Petroleum Museums and Documents Centre seeks to collect and display old oil industry equipment and pass this valuable heritage on to the next generation. The Centre had an exhibition recently at the Iran International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition, an event which features in this edition of the OPEC Bulletin. In Kuwait, the Ahmad Al-Jaber Oil and Gas Exhibition plays an important role for the Kuwait Oil Company by telling the story of oil, both in the state of Kuwait and throughout the world.

Yet, the history of the oil industry pertains to almost every country on earth and forthcoming editions of the OPEC Bulletin will feature profiles of museums and institutions that preserve the history of the oil industry across Europe. This is part of an ongoing series that explores the oil museums of the world, which has been a theme in previous OPEC Bulletins, including articles on oil museums in Poland and Romania.

These institutions underscore the sheer universality of oil industry heritage, with a multitude of locations and cities having deep and rich roots linked to the production and consumption of oil. This was also in evidence when OPEC Secretary General, Haitham Al Ghais, attended Baku Energy Week in Declaration of Cooperation participant Azerbaijan at the beginning of June.

Baku is a city that has played an extremely important and unique role, as a birthplace of oil drilled for commercial purposes. It is the cradle of the industry, a city of ‘firsts’: the site of the first oil well drilled in 1846; the first wooden oil derrick, which was built in 1871; the first distillery completedin 1876 and the world’s first oil tanker ship, the Zoroaster, was built there in 1877.

The city has also many museums and visitor attractions that chronicle this history. Baku’s Villa Petrolea is the former mansion of the Nobel family and contains a museum of the oil industry. ‘Branobel’, the Nobel brothers oil company, was one of the largest oil companies in the world and pioneered many of the oil industry innovations associated with Baku. Since 2008, the mansion that housed the company has been open to the public.

As already noted, Azerbaijan played a significant role in the history of oil tankers. The ‘Suraxani’ or ‘Surakhani’ is a former oil tanker bedecked with a ship museum. Moored on the Caspian Sea, it can be located alongside the Baku Boulevard in the Sabayil area, south-east of the city of Baku. Visitors can practice manouevring a ship, tying rope knots and even dabble in Morse code.

Having played an important role in the history of the energy industry, Azerbaijan is poised to play a vital role in its future, with Baku set to host the UN’s Conference of the Parties at its 29th session, between 11 and 22 November 2024. Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and President-Designate for COP29, outlined the incoming President’s strategy for a successful COP when he visited the OPEC Secretariat on 22 May.

This highlights that a broad range of areas from the oil industry’s past reverbevate in recent OPEC activities. The Organization is committed to promoting the industry’s heritage and this is a theme in many of our publications and communications. It is a past we need to remember, as we look to build the industry’s future.

OPEC Bulletin May-June 2024

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