Introduction. The change of technical and technological guidelines for the development of domestic industry led to a change in priorities in fuel consumption, clearly manifested in the late XIX – early XX century. Along with firewood and charcoal, fuel oil plays an increasingly active role in the structure of industrial consumption. The rapid growth of oil production, which began in the 1870s, contributed to its rapid advancement in the fuel market. This article analyzes the role of oil in the fuel and energy balance of the territory of the Middle Volga region at the beginning of the 20th century. The regional market shows the structure of oil consumption, as well as its importance in the energy supply of industrial enterprises. Materials and Methods. In order to solve the assigned research tasks, archival materials, published data of official statistics, as well as scientific literature were used. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the methods of socio-economic history. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historicism, objectivity and system. The need to process quantitative data led to the use of a statistical method. The application of the modernization theory allowed to include the processes of development of the oil and oil products market in the trend of industrial modernization. Results. Despite the instability of the oil and oil products market, which had the nature of wave-like fluctuations, the economy of the Middle Volga region since the 1880s increasingly becoming petroleum. The rapid growth of oil production and refining in the Baku region, which rapidly changed the structure of the fuel market, contributed to the decisive degree of strengthening the “oil” direction in the Russian energy sector of the early 20th century. An important factor was the development of market infrastructure and transport, which ensured the rapid delivery of oil and petroleum products to consumers in the provinces of the Middle Volga region. However, under the influence of a number of factors, the decisive of which was the sharp rise in the cost of fuel oil, there was an increase in the share in the fuel market for hard coal, which became particularly noticeable at the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century. Discussion and Conclusion. In the late XIX – early XX centuries under the influence of the intensifying wave of industrial modernization, the economic structure of the Middle Volga province was transformed, which included more and more industrial features. One of the manifestations of this process was the increase in demand for fuel oil. Until the beginning of the XX century oil in weight terms was ahead of the supply of Donetsk coal, then, under the influence of the excise system spreading to the oil market, as well as price factors expressed in the rapid rise in oil prices, the priority of consumers changed in favor of coal, and in some cases even increasing demand for firewood. True, in the industrial segment of the economy, the ratio of oil and hard coal was approximately equal, with minor fluctuations in one direction or another. In general, the transition to the widespread use of oil in industry contributed to the acceleration of the industrial modernization of the Middle Volga region, the growth of both quantitative and qualitative parameters of the development of factory industry
Keywords: oil, oil refining, coal, fuel market, industrial modernization, industry, the Middle Volga region.
On the numerical, social and professional membership of the Volga region units of proletariat writers of the NEP period