Vagit Alekperov, President of OAO LUKOIL, took part in a festive ceremony which marked the opening of a memorial to Vladimir Shukhov, an outstanding Russian engineer, in Moscow today.

The memorial, placed on Sretensky Boulevard opposite the Company's headquarters, was created at LUKOIL’s expense and donated to the city. The author of the monument is sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Mr. Alekperov said, ‘Having learned about the idea to create a memorial to Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov, an outstanding Russian engineer and scientist, we immediately welcomed the opportunity to support this initiative. I couldn’t name anyone else who contributed to the modern oil industry as much as Shukhov did. In fact, he pioneered most of the technical solutions used today by petroleum experts all over the world for oil production, transportation, storage and refining’.

Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov was born on August 28, 1853 in Grayvoron, Kursk province. He was the author and chief engineer of the project to construct the first Russian pipeline and the world’s first heated pipeline for fuel oil. Shukhov designed the first cylindrical metal tank to store oil. Íå also obtained a patent for a nozzle to burn fuel oil, after which fuel oil started to be used as fuel. He constructed different pumps for oil lifting, was the inventor of air lift (gas lift), and the designer and builder of tanker ships. Shukhov was the author of the first industrial unit for continuous thermal cracking of oil and also the chief engineer of projects to construct Russia ’s first trunk pipelines from Baku to Batumi and from Grozny to Tuapse.