User:TheOilGuy/sandbox

Please do not publish, unfinished.

The Russian General Oil Corporation (Русская гéнéральная нéфтяная корпорация) was a Russian oil and gas company headquartered in London. From its establishment in 1912 until its nationalization following the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Russian General Oil Corporation possessed a near monopoly of the Russian oil industry, resulting in its founder, Stefan Lianozov, becoming the wealthiest non-royal person in Russia. During its existence, the shares of the Russian General Oil Corporation were listed on the stock exchanges of Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Saint Petersburg.

History
The Russian General Oil Corporation was founded by Stefan Lianozov on July 28, 1912, to prevent further foreign ownership of Russian oil fields by the Swedish company Branobel and the Rothschild family, who had come to dominate the Russian oil industry by the end of the 19th Century. Lianozov stated that the company's objective was to "establish control over the production and distribution of petroleum products in Russia, as well as price regulation.” Lianozov elected to register the new company in the United Kingdom, which was at the time the foremost global financial centre and enabled Lianozov to facilitate foreign investment in Russia, whose major industry was technologically backward compared to Western Europe and the United States. Lianozov ultimately raised initial capital of £2.5 million (2021: £287 million, $395 million) for the new company from various Russian and non-Russian banks, and appointed both the British Parliamentarian Viscount Carrick and an assortment of British and Russian bankers to its Board of Directors to facilitate further investment. The Russian General Oil Corporation used these funds to acquire various oil companies operating in modern-day Azerbaijan and Chechnya, including his own eponymously named oil company, G.M. Lianozov Sons, in addition to A.I. Mantashev & Co., the Moscow-Caucasus Trade Company, the Caspian Partnership, the Russian Petroleum Society and the Absheron Petroleum Society.

By 1914, the Russian General Oil Corporation had purchased a significant shareholding in its nearest competitor, Branobel, which had become the first Russian oil company to vertically intergrate in the 19th century. However, the hostile takeover failed and by 1917, one of Branobel’s founding partners, Emmanuel Nobel, became the largest single-shareholder in the Russian General Oil Corporation. Nonetheless, the noted contemporary economist, Vladimir Siv, stated “this company (the Russian General Oil Corporation) has performed a complete coup against the Russian oil industry.”

Demise
On April 28, 1920, the Bolsheviks seized power in Baku]] and the Russian General Oil Corporation's assets in Azerbaijan were nationalized. Lianozov fled to Helsinki following the October Revolution and became an organizer in the anti-Bolshevik movement. In 1920, during the Russian Civil War, he fled to France upon the realization that there was little chance of taking back control of the company. Lianozov later died in exile in Paris in 1949, aged 77.