With their experiences and resources from the mechanical factory in St Petersburg, the Nobel brothers introduced new technology for extracting and refining oil. By organising the whole activity as one continuous system they were able to increase production while also reducing costs.
Petrochemical production on a grand scale
In the 1880s, Branobel’s business in the Baku oil trade grew quickly, and Ludvig Nobel assumed various responsibilities in bodies organising many companies in the Baku petrochemical industry. The production figures of Branobel rocketed.
Guns brought Nobel into the oil business
The Nobel family played an important role in the development of Azerbaijan’s oil industry from the late 19th century and onwards. The first member of the family to get acquainted with Baku was Robert Nobel, who went to Azerbaijan in 1873. The gun business brought him there.
Transforming the oil business
Branobel was founded in 1879 and grew quickly due to the Nobel brothers’ willingness to develop all parts of the oil business like production, transportation and sale. At the end of the 19th century Branobel was among the eight biggest oil companies in the world.
The engineering works and the oil company
In 1876, a new phase begins in the history of the Nobel engineering works once Ludvig and his eldest son, Emanuel, had visited their brother Robert Nobel in Baku. After this, a lot of the manufacturing in the engineering works in St Petersburg is adapted to the great need for development of the Nobels' oil industry in Baku.
The War over the oil market
In the middle of the 1880s, the battle for power over the world's oil markets between first and foremost, Branobel, the American Standard Oil and the French family the Rothschilds' company, BNITO, gets tougher. Agreements and treachery, bribes, industrial espionage, price wars, gossip and slander – every means available was used in the war over the oil market.
Harvest times for the Nobel brothers’ oil adventure
At the turn of the 20th century, Branobel is stronger and more successful than ever and the company is producing ten percent of the world's oil in Baku and its surroundings. Emanuel Nobel buys his uncle, Alfred's, shares in the company and the money goes into the newly-formed Nobel Foundation. In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm and Oslo.