Oil museum

The first predictor of Belarusian oil was our fellow countryman Mikhail Alexandrovich Gromyko, a resident of the village of Chernoye, a geologist. In 1930, Mikhail Alexandrovich Gromyko and his colleague geographer Azbukin organized the first searches for oil and went on a business trip to Polissya.
Here the locals noticed that if in some places if they threw a match on the water, it burns. From here it became clear that swamp gas is coming to the surface in these places.
Unfortunately, Gromyko was arrested and repressed in the 1930s, he did not return to Rechitsa.

However, already in 1937 our academician Gerasim Bogomolov created the first geological map of Belarus. The search was stopped by the war, and only in 1951, when the first Belarusian expedition of exploratory drilling was established, they were renewed.
There have been fruitless searches under Mozyr and successful as it supposed to be under Yelsk, where the first oil release was 16.5 tons, but it turned out that this is a single occurrence. In consequence of such searches, the USSR decided to curtail.
A group of enthusiasts persuaded the leaders of the Belarusian office of exploratory drilling to postpone the search for Rechitsa. Soon, with the help of complex negotiations, money was allocated for additional searches.

The first well, which was laid in 1961 near Rechitsa during the prospecting works, did not give any manifestations of oil. Later, seven more wells were laid. The first well of the master Zaitsev Valentin Alexandrovich earned on August 20, 1964. Her debit was 120 tons of oil per day.
It became clear after 57 days that the discovery of oil near Rechitsa is not accidental when the second fountain was blown up at the well No 8 of the master Vladimir Galko, the well gave 600 tons of oil per day. This was the opening of the Rechitsa oil field.

A few years later, in 1968, a special plan was drawn up on the initiative of the chief engineer of the NPC "Rechitsaneft", and it was decided to drill the first well that did not give oil again. Doburili for another 500 meters, drilled to 3 thousand with a tail of meters. And the well gave 800 tons of oil per day. The stele in the form of an oil rig - is build exactly in that way as it was in those years and a commemorative sign were erected at the site of the eighth well set. The memorial sign has a special meaning, reminding us of the difficult path of development of the oil industry in Belarus.