Estonian oil shale industry in the whirlwinds of the world fuel market and global policy in the 1920s and 1940s
Estonian oil shale industry in the whirlwinds of the world fuel market and global policy in the 1920s and 1940s

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this report is to analyse the processes and developmental trends in the Estonian oil shale industry in the 1920–1940s, its dependence on the governmental policy of the Republic of Estonia and fundamental changes taking place in the fuel market of the world after WWI. The development of the Estonian oil shale industry in the 1920–1930s has been described as a great success: the production of shale oil increased from year to year as a result of which the amounts of export increased as well. Today it is estimated as a very important indicator of the competitive capability of the Estonian oil shale industry in that-time fuel market. The consumption of shale oil also increased in the Estonian inner market. Was such competitiveness in correlation with the prices of petroleum and shale oil in the world market or was it conditioned by the protectionist economic policy of the Estonian government in order to defend the only great developing domestic branch of industry? Today it is known that since 1935, Estonian oil shale industries had sold their entire production of shale oil to Germany as a result of which the production grew abruptly. What was the role of Estonian shale oil in the fuel policy of Nazi-Germany? The answer to the question whether the shale oil of Estonian origin would have been able to compete in the world fuel market without Germany as a consumer in the second half of the 1930s and during the WWII would help us understand the key problems of the Estonian oil shale industry and preconditions for its development in the later –Soviet – period.

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