OLEH MYKULYCH,
PhD in History,
Corresponding Member
of Ukrainian Petroleum Academy

In the XVII century, oil was traded at many fairs in Galicia. Liquid oil brine was sold for medicines, dense one – as grease throughout Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Russia and Germany. People who transported this oil brine were called mazyary, smarovozy and rapniki. So, in the XVIII century at the Drogobych fair there was even a special place reserved for oilmen who sold oil. Oil was transported and sold by barrels to remote areas. * At the end of the XVIII century, the price per barrel of oil was 14 florins and 61 kreuzers. Also in the XVIII century in Galicia, there were diggings of earth wax used in a primitive way from open bitumen deposits and entrusted with healing properties.
According to the sources cited, oil and its products have long been known to the population of Galicia, production field was developed here, and the extracted product was used for practical purposes. However, there was no large-scale industrial application at that time, as in mining laws dated October 9, 1773, December 18, 1786, and December 28, 1804, the oil industry was not mentioned yet.
Numerous references in the sources of the early XIX century say about increase in demand for oil and its associated minerals. The oldest oil industry since 1800 was focused in the village of Pogar in the Skole district near the Ropyanka stream (400 m from the mouth), in the Gay forest. It was described by the Austrian paleontologist, geologist Emil Tietze (E. Tietze 1845-1931). Before drilling, mine No. 5 with a depth of 70 m produced 260 tons of oil per year.
The well-known naturalist, doctor of law, writer, Catholic priest Staszic (S. Staszic 1755-1826), at a public meeting of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science on December 13, 1805, presented his report from the journey in 1804, which was published under the title «O ziemiorództwie gór dawney Sarmacyi a późniey Polski»(Warsaw, 1805). In 1806, he published the first geological map «Carta geologica totius Poloniae etc.», which shows the location of oilfields. This map was completed with the tractate «O ziemiorodztwie Karpatów i innych gór i równin Polski» (Warsaw, 1815), where Staszic reported numerous outflows of salt, sulphurous sources, oil and its products in the territory from Wieliczka through Dobromil, Staraya Sol, Drogobych to Kuty and further through Multaniya (Romania). He also mentions the outflows of «niby bursztynów a które przecież są tylko stwardłym skał olejem» here and there.
Staszic, mentioning rock oil in Naguevychi, which was extracted from three oil wells and in Pokutie in general, clearly distinguished several kinds of these bitumens. This pure yellow-gray oil used for lamps and candles he also calls oil. The second kind is a black-brown oil that burns less clearly and makes a dense and unpleasant smoke - «bitume glutineuse - bergtheer». Oftentimes harden brown-black bitumen «pech» (asphalt, resin), which emits dense smoke while combusting, can be found in sand and clay like hardened resin. The author says about earth wax in Naguevychi and Staraya Sol.
In his works, Staszic also substantiates the problem of the origin of oil deposits. According to the prevailing at that time neptunistic theory of the formation of mineral deposits, the author believes that they were formed by precipitation from the original liquid solution like deposits of coal, sulfur or salt. He also says about the «unpleasant smell» of oil sources and their outflows together with salty water. The information exists on their exploitation, as well as a reference to the fact that oil brine is a part of the regional trade.
In the area of Opor, Stryi and Mizun, mention is made of pieces of resin-amber, similar to those found on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
In his work Staszic wrote: „W zamiarze zbierania porkury następne powszechne stosowane są sposoby: kopią w bliskości źródeł przeszło trzy sążnie mający doł. Ten w krotce napełnia się wodą skałolejem zmieszaną. Ta woda często łopatami bywa mieszana, aby części ziemiste opadały, a porkura na wierzch spływała. Na około rzeczonego dołu, robią kilka dołków małych, na pszewroconego brożka, czyli cukrowej głowy. W takie dołki rzucają ow skałolej pływający po wierzchu wody. Jest to prawdziwy bituminu gatunek, który Verner* nazywa gemenides erdoël, bitume liqide noiratre. Hauy.**
Taki prosty skałolei zostaje w tych małych dołkach dwa lub trzy dni. Osadza się jeszcze reszta wody; skałolej gęstszy, z ziemią zmieszany, unosi się w środku: a na samym wierzchu pływa olei czystszy żołtoszarawy. Ten zbierany z wierzchu, bywa używanym do lamp, do świeczek. Pali się łatwo, wydaje kopeć gęsty, a wypala się całkiem nie zostawiając po sobie żadnych ostatków. Jest to gatunek naphty bitumen fluidissimum, levissimum, naphta. Vall.
Ten zaś drugi, co się pod naftą znajduje, jest czarny, albo czarnawo-brunatny, lipki, jeszcze na wodzie pływający; pali się także, ale nie jasno; wydaje dym gęsty, i przykry; zostawia po sobie popiół, czyli ziemię. Jest to gatunek, Bergtheer. Vern. bitume glutineux Hauy. Używają go tu powszechnie do smarowania wozów, do oblewania czołn, statków, i do polew”.
At the beginning of the XIX century, the primitive exploitation of the oil brine gathered pace in many localities in Prykarpattya. Proof of that is the fact that the Austrian authorities included the exploitation of bituminous minerals in the legislative norms.
In 1804, the Austrian imperial patent (law) was issued, which stated that all bituminous minerals are the property of the state, the so-called «regalia», the mining of which provided for an official permit.
Based on the report of the Drogobych Mining Court dated August 2, 1810, the Decree of the State Chancellery was issued in Vienna and sent to the Drogobych Mining Court. It noted that all the minerals that contain earth oil («Bergöl», «erdoël»), that is, oil and earth gum (natural asphalt), («Bergpech», «erdharz») that is ozokerite (natural bitumen), refer to the state-owned minerals and, therefore, cannot be landed property, and the permission for their exploitation - the so-called «freischurfami» (mining permit) - is provided by the state. But due to the protests of the local population, the Galician Vicegerency supported the proposal to cancel this decree. Therefore, on November 8, 1810, in Vienna, the decree was issued, according to which the oil was removed from the list of the above minerals and remained landed property, but «Bergteer» and «Berg oder Judenpech», that is ozokerite (natural bitumen) and asphalt, remained state-owned. The first who received such permission was the Borislav businessman Johann (Jan, Ivan) Mitis (Joh. Mitis), who in the same year was granted by the Drogobych Mining Court the right to extract the earth wax. This was the first official enterprise to exploit bituminous minerals.
Since that time, the Drogobych Mining Department starts to register oil and ozokerite mining and processing enterprises.
When applied, however, peasants and Jewish traders upon authorization of local land owners (that is illegally) dug shallow holes to extract a little of the oil brine and made attempts to process it with primitive means.