Major Alekseev, director of the Baku oil fields, supervised the operation which employed the percussion method, with wooden rods. Recent research has established that the world’s first drilling of an oil well, to a depth of 21 metres, took place on the Absheron peninsula (in the Bibi-Heybat region of Baku) in 1846. This happened with the increased use of steam engines and other industrial developments, which required huge quantities of lubricants. From the second half of the 19th century, the demand for oil and especially its components began to rise. Oil had been extracted in only small amounts until the mid 19th century, usually from shallow wells around naturally exposed oil. The development of oil production began with subsequent advances in drilling technology. The first wells in Russia (percussion-rod method) were drilled in the 9th century and were also used to produce a solution of common salt.
A chisel on bamboo rods was lowered into the well on cables 1-4 cm thick and woven from Indian reed.
The Chinese were the first people to drill wells, in around 2000 BC, using the cable tool percussion method to produce brine.
