stupid strategic question

[Shikhov]

Hello Gentlements!
Prepared some figures not directly about thred theme but hoped may be interesting enough.
USSR oil production in 1940-1945
1940 whole year 31,1 mil. ton
1941 1-st half 17,3 mil. ton
1941 2-nd half 15,7 mil. ton
1942 1-st half 11,7 mil. ton
1942 2-nd half 10,3 mil. ton
1943 1-nd half 8,8 mil. ton
1943 2-nd half 9,2 mil. ton
1944 1-st half 8,9 mil. ton
1944 2-nd half 9,4 mil. ton
1945 1-st half 9,3 mil. ton
1945 2-nd half 10,1 mil. ton

Above figures well shown USSR oil production reduced after Caucasus Battle to little above 50% of prewar level (1-st half of 1941) and not restored until war end. Nevertheless Soviet Army never suffered from lack of fuel oil even tank and airplane numbers grown in times compare to 1941.
The reason were in refinery effectiveness grown generally in 1,5 times: all grades of gasoline production extracted from crude oil was 5,76 % in 1940 then increased to 8,36 % in 1944 and even more for aviation gasoline – from 2,56 % in 1940 to 6,15 % in 1944.
Soviets starts to partly restore oil industry in Maicop - Grozny region since spring of 1943, but without serious result. Much more notable point was four Lend-Leased modern refinery plants built in Orsk, Guriyev, Krasnovodsk and Kuibyshev according to GKO directive from April 1943. Its annual capacity were 240 000 tons of B-78 aviation gasoline, 35 000 tons of aviation lubricating oil, 600 000 tons of another grades of gasoline. This is 22,2% of whole USSR gasoline production in 1944 (3 773 400 tons – highest war production level).

Most vulnerable points of Soviet oil industry – 4 Lend-Leased refinery plants seems never recognized by Germans. In mid of 1943 Luftwaffe tried to strike another one – oil shipment but failed due to absolutely insufficient attack scale.
In 1942 Soviet fleet shipped by sea (mainly Caspian Sea) 8,8 mil. tons of oil, but in 1943 figures increased up to 13,1 mil. tons. Shipment by rivers also increased in 1,5 times - from 5,3 mil tons to 7,5 mil tons.

Regards.

[Andy Fletcher]

Hi Shikhov,

Thanks for the figures. Can you tell me when construction of the Orsk, Guriyev, Krasnovodsk and Kuibyshev refineries actually began (did work actually start in Apr43) and when it was completed. Also any other info on where other main refineries where located would be appreciated as I know next to nothing about Soviet refining capacity during the GPW.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

[Shikhov]

Hello Andy,
Let me indicate some info in addition. Also I trying to find data when refinery plants production starts.

USSR crude oil production in 1938-1945
whole USSR Baku region
1938 - 30,2 mil. ton n/a
1939 - 30,2 mil. ton n/a
1940 - 31,1 mil. ton n/a
1941 - 33,0 mil. ton 23,5 mln. ton (71,2%)
1942 - 22,0 mil. ton 15,7 mln. ton (71,4%)
1943 - 18,0 mil. ton 12,7 mln. ton (70,6%)
1944 - 18,3 mil. ton 11,8 mln. ton (64,5%)
1945 - 19,4 mil. ton 11,5 mln. ton (59,3%)

USSR aviation gasoline production in 1940-1945
1940 - 889 thous. ton
1941 - 1269 thous. ton
1942 - 912 thous. ton
1943 - 1007 thous. ton
1944 - 1334 thous. ton
1945 - 1017 thous. ton

1941-1945 total production was 5538 thous. ton. In addition 82,5 thous. ton captured in East Europe 1944-45 and 2586 thous. ton delivered from USA, Canada, Great Britain.
But 90-92 % of Lend-Leased high grade oil material were used for Soviet aviation gas production. Therefore 1.7.1941 – 1.5.45 USSR production estimated around 4,2 mil. ton of aviation gasoline, but 2,3 mil ton was Lend Leased high octane components included.
Therefore of 4,54 mil. ton all air gas produced. captured etc., Lend Leas share was 57 %.

P.S. Recently l pickup an interesting website, but still not it studied.
Perhabs may be usefull.
http://orbat.com/site/sturmvogel/sovprod.html
http://orbat.com/site/sturmvogel/SovOil.html

Best regards.
Shikhov Igor.

[Andy Fletcher]

Hi Igor,

Many thanks for the additional data and the links and for looking for data on refineries for me.

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher