Problems of Oil Transportation in the Ural-Emba Region: The Government Debate in 1920-1921

The author analyzes the problems of organizing oil transportation from the Ural-Emba region based on the materials of the discussion that took place in the Soviet government in 1920-1921 regarding the feasibility of constructing new transport communications - a railway and an oil pipeline - from oil fields to the central industrial regions of the Russian Empire. Based on the sources such as a complex of the published legislative documents and archival materials, some of which are being introduced into scientific use for the first time, the authors considers: the measures taken by the country's leadership to resolve the fuel crisis of 1918-1919, the reasons for the decision to build the Aleksandrov Gai - Emba railway and the Emba - Saratov oil pipeline, the main arguments of the discussion participants about the need to continue the construction, and the difficulties that arose during the construction process, difficulties which ultimately led to the closure of the project. The author comes to the conclusion that among the reasons for freezing the construction of Emba facilities were the Soviet government’s lack of experience in implementing large economic projects in military conditions, insufficient qualifications of managers and specialists of relevant departments, and lack of a built system of construction preparation and planning.