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Petroleum has been known to humans since ancient times. Archaeological diggings on the bank of the Euphrates river established that petroleum was extracted there 6000-4000 years BC. Back then it was used as fuel, and oil bitumen was used in building and road construction. In ancient Egypt petroleum was used for embalming the deceased.
There are two scientific theories of petroleum origin: biogenic and abiogenic. The first theory suggests that oil was formed from ancient biomass, primarily plankton. The other theory, championed by Dmitry Mendeleev, propounds that petroleum is formed of deep fluids – liquid and gaseous components of magma or gas-saturated solutions circulating in the subsoil.
When oil was first discovered in the USA, it took people a while to benefit from its energy potential. Instead, oil was bottled, labeled and sold as medicine. Several hundred thousands of such bottles were sold and, probably, consumed.
Oil is a flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons. Naturally-occurring oil can be of various colors: black, brown, cherry, green, amber or yellow. Its smell can also vary widely - from fragrant to an unpleasant sulphurous odor.
The first refinery was built in Russia in 1745 on the Ukhtinskoye oil field. Back then, people in Petersburg and Moscow used candles, while in smaller towns kindling wood was burned for light. Only the churches already had oil lamps, and these burned oil which was nothing more than a mixture of refined petroleum and vegetable oil.
Oil is used to produce gasoline, kerosene, jet and diesel fuel, fuel oil, tar, various petroleum oils such as lubricants, and intermediate products for the petrochemical industry.
Oil is called "black gold", "blood of the earth", "the lifeblood of modern civilization". One of the old names for petroleum is "mountain oil". In Russian the word neft appeared in the 17th century, from the Arabic nafata, which means "to erupt".
The Native Americans of the Seneca tribe collected oil from the surface of lakes and springs by spreading blankets over the water, then wringing them out over a bucket.
One of the earliest theories of the origin of petroleum suggested that this black substance was nothing other than whale excreta settling on the sea bed, then migrating to subsoil via subsurface channels.
For a long time no one had the idea of drilling the earth's surface to produce oil. In 1857 this idea occurred to American Edwin Drake. The sides of the first well that he drilled collapsed. This gave Drake the idea of putting a cast iron pipe into the hole to support the sides of the well. All oil wells have been similarly equipped ever since.
On January 2, 1703, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that oil had been discovered in Russia. However, throughout the 18th century oil field development remained unprofitable because of the product’s very limited field of application. After territorial acquisitions in the Baku region in the early 19th century the Caucasus became Russia’s primary oil-producing region. In 1853 the kerosene lamp was invented, leading a huge rise in the demand for oil.

Policy of LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. in the area of Industrial, Occupational and Environmental Safety

For LUKOIL Overseas, among the most important elements of social business responsibility are industrial safety, labor safety and environmental protection.

The complex of Company actions in this area includes the following:

  • provision of safe labor conditions
  • protection of the health of Company personnel and the population in the areas of operations
  • rational use of natural resources
  • reduction of industrial impact on the environment

In 2007 the Company was included in the Golden Certificate of OAO LUKOIL for compliance with the requirements of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

The charity and sponsorship activities of LUKOIL Overseas are an integral part of the strategy of OAO LUKOIL’s socially-oriented business. LUKOIL Overseas attaches considerable importance to maintaining friendly relations with the population in the Company's areas of operations, and each year implements numerous programs in the area of healthcare, education, culture and sports.

In Kazakhstan in 2007-2008, LUKOIL Overseas implemented the Aray Social Partnership Program – a unique social project which has no parallel in the Republic, and is aimed at supporting small businesses and creating new jobs. The program provides an opportunity to obtain free grants on a competitive basis for up to USD 7,000 thousand, for the development of business, crafts and creative talents.

For many years the Company has been an active supporter of Astana High School No.6 and the Choice of the Young Social Foundation, a large non-state youth organization with branches in all regional centers of Kazakhstan.

In the Republic of Uzbekistan LUKOIL Overseas is implementing large-scale social projects, which include support of medical and educational institutions, art organizations and creative teams, and also the Foundation for Promotion of Children's Sports.

In 2007 the Company provided assistance to improve the living conditions of military units of the South-West special military district and the frontier post near the Khauzak field.

Through support provided by LUKOIL Overseas, performance of the Eugene Onegin opera and Swan Lake ballet has been resumed at the Navoi State Academic Bolshoy Theatre.

In accordance with the memorandum signed in March 2004 in Baghdad by ÎÀÎ LUKOIL and the Iraq Ministry of Oil, LUKOIL provided humanitarian aid, which included several dozen special vehicles.

Beginning in 2004, more than 600 Iraqi oilmen were trained at LUKOIL facilities. In addition, several groups of Iraqi trainees study at Russia’s Gubkin State University and Ufa State Oil and Gas Technical University on scholarships from LUKOIL.

Having made its contribution to disease control and infrastructure development in remote regions of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, LUKOIL Overseas organized and financed the creation of a fleet of ambulance boats in Tukupita (State Delta Amacuro) in the delta of the Orinoco River. Under this project, nine ambulance speed boats were commissioned and assigned to the villages and towns of the Orinoco delta inhabited by the Guarao Indians. For its development of this project LUKOIL Overseas received the official gratitude of the Ministry of Health of Venezuela.

LUKOIL Overseas also implemented a program of reconstruction and equipment of the Eusebia Balsa kindergarten in Caracas.

More than 80 local employees are engaged in implementing the social programs of LUKOIL Overseas in the Condor project zone. Social projects include construction of children's playgrounds, organization of trainings and seminars, and assistance to the municipal hospital of San Luis de Gaceno.

The Company also organized a children's environmental fiction contest, in which pupils of seven local schools took part.

Corporate Social Policy
The focus of the Company’s Social Policy is to make the work more effective, to socially protect the employees and to imbue the feeling of stability in the labor collectives. »
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