Ukhta

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For the place previously called Ukhta, see Kalevala (urban-type settlement).

Coordinates: 63°34′N 53°42′E / 63.567, 53.7

A view from the West

Ukhta or Uchta (Russian: Ухта) is an important industrial city in the Komi Republic of northwestern Russia. Population: 103,340 (2002 Census); 110,548 (1989 Census).

Oil springs along the Ukhta River were already known in the 17th century. In the mid-19th century, industrialist M. K. Sidorov started to drill for oil in this area. It was one of the first oil wells in Russia. There was homecraft oil-field in 1920–1921 in Ukhta. Lying on the river of the same name, the settlement was founded as the village of Chibyu in 1929, but in 1939 it was renamed Ukhta. It received the town status in 1943 when it was linked to the Pechora Railway. To the east of the city is Sosnogorsk, and to the southwest Yarega. As well as its rail link Ukhta also has an airport.

Ukhta lies within the Pechora River basin, an important oil and gas-producing region. The oilfields lie just south of the city. Some of the Ukhta's oil is refined locally; most, however, is piped to oil refineries between St. Petersburg and Moscow. There were a few gas pipeline explosions at a distance of five miles from the town since 1990s.

The city expanded in the 1940s and 1950s by use of political prisoners' forced labour.

Ukhta 1950s

On July 11, 2005, a gas explosion killed sixteen people in a shop. According to a police source the explosion was caused by a gas canister.

[edit] Notable residents

Sergei Kapustin, former USSR national hockey team member who won the 1981 Canada Cup.
Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire and the main owner of private investment company Millhouse Capital, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs (attended the Industrial Institute of Ukhta before being drafted into the Soviet Army).