Baku-Batumi pipeline

The Baku–Batumi pipeline is the name given to several pipelines and pipeline projects to transport kerosene and crude oil from the Caspian region to the Georgian Batumi oil terminal at the Black Sea. When first constructed in 1906, it was the world's longest kerosene pipeline.

Together with oil developments in the Baku area, the need for construction of the oil pipeline from Baku to the Black Sea rose. The first pipeline proposal was submitted by Russian engineer I. Ilimov already in 1878. In 1880, Dmitri Mendeleev proposed the construction of Baku–Batum pipeline to ensure the transportation of Baku oil to the world market. In 1884, the chief engineer Vladimir Shukhov of Bari engineering company published a scientifically based draft and estimate of the Baku – Batum oil pipeline. Also the pipeline technical project was later designed by Vladimir Shukhov. In 1885, mining engineer I. Ilimov established the Caspian and Black Sea Oil Pipeline company. In December 1887, the Government of Russia granted to Ilimov the concession to establish the Society of the Caspian-Black Sea Oil Pipeline, a . However, in 1891 the pipeline construction was postponed as premature, and the construction started only in 1896. At the first stage, the Batum-Mikhailovo (Khashuri) section was constructed, while the construction of Baku-Mikhailovo (Khashuri) section was finished only in 1906 [ref.11].

The first pipeline was kerosene pipeline with total length of 835 kilometres (519 mi) and 16 pumping stations. The diameter of the pipeline was mainly 8 inches (200 mm), but some parts had diameter of 10 inches (250 mm) and 12 inches (300 mm). The pipes were produced at plants in Mariupol, Sosnovtsa and Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk). The pipeline was built along the railroad line and the telephone communication was arranged along the route. The initial pipeline capacity was 980,000 tons of kerosene per annum. Pumping stations were equipped with plunger pumps, driven by steam and diesel engines. The pipeline for its time was the longest pipeline in the world.

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