OIL FIELD OPERATIONS IN URICH
“Welcome to the land where salt and oil flow! Welcome to us, where there is only a forest around!” (from a cantata in honour of the visit of Emperor Franz Joseph I to Sambir in 1880)
The No.4-Skhidnytska exploration well, drilled in the 1970s, was located here. Tests shown that the volume of oil produced is of no industrial significance, and the well was preserved.
Oil field operations in the vicinity of the village of Urich began in 1889: 2 mines were dug here for brine extraction. The first well appeared in 1891. By 1938, wells were actively developed in the Zabukovyna tract (northeastern slope of Vershishche mountain). From the end of the 19th century, Uritskaya Oil Joint-Stock Union operated. Many locals worked in the oil industry, they were called ripniks (ropa - crude oil).
The map by engineer Evig of 1921 marks 124 wells in the Zabukovyna tract. In the 1930s, the process of oil production was mechanized. Of the 97 operating mines, 80 were equipped with pumps. In 1934, 6,846.7 tons of brine were extracted from the Urich mines. In 1938, this figure reached 9,454 tons.
In Soviet times, the oil industry was particularly active in the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, the environment suffered greatly: soil erosion occurred, and flows became polluted. In the 1990s, oil exploration and the creation of new wells in the vicinity of the village of Urich were suspended, although they are still operated.