The discovery and accelerated development of Mangystau oil played a decisive role in the manifold increase in proven reserves of oil, and made Kazakhstan one of the leading oil producing republics of the former USSR.
The first Mangyshlak oil gushed out in 1961. A year later, the Council of Ministers of the republic adopted a decree on the industrial development of the natural resources of Southern Mangystau. This is how oil virgin land campaign started in Kazakhstan.
