The gas and oil minister who made the USSR the world's largest gas producer
Reassigned from Gas to Oil Minister in 1985, he told a colleague: "All the same, in my soul I'm a gas man. Nothing to be done about it."
Born into an ethnic Bulgarian peasant family, Dinkov served as a reconnaissance scout in the Great Patriotic War and afterwards chaired a kolkhoz in Krasnodar. Graduating from the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute, he rose from oilfield engineer to Minister of the Gas Industry in 1981. He tripled gas output and completed the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhgorod transcontinental pipeline (4,450 km), linking Siberian fields to Western Europe. Shifted to Oil Industry Minister in 1985, he oversaw the USSR's peak crude production of 624 million tons in 1988, still the highest annual output of any single country. After retirement he served on the Gazprom board, guiding the gas industry through its market transition.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1942–1947Red Army reconnaissance scout, Great Patriotic War
- 1947–1954Kolkhoz chairman in Krasnodar; graduated Azerbaijan Industrial Institute
- 1954–1962Engineer at Krasnodarneft and Abinneft oil administrations
- 1962–1965Head of Krasnodar Main Gas Pipelines → first General Director of Kubangazprom
- 1966–1970Head of Glavgazdobycha, Ministry of the Gas Industry of the USSR
- 1970–1981Deputy Minister → First Deputy Minister of the Gas Industry of the USSR
- 1981–1985Minister of the Gas Industry of the USSR
- 1985–1989Minister of the Oil Industry of the USSR
- 1979–1989Deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet (Turkmen SSR)
- 1986–1990Member of the CPSU Central Committee
Related historical events
Expanding the gas network and linking it to Western Europe
From 1981 to 1985, Dinkov headed the USSR Ministry of the Gas Industry and oversaw the expansion of a large transport network linking West Siberian gas fields to consumers. The industry publication Neftegaz reports that during his tenure a system of pipelines connecting Western Siberia, the central regions and Western Europe was built, extending more than 20,000 km and capable of transporting 200 billion cubic metres a year. Gas production tripled, and in 1984 the USSR became the world’s largest gas producer.
A central project in this network, the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline, linked Western Siberia with Western Europe over 4,450 km. Its launch was marked in France on 13 January 1984. Neftegaz reports that it was completed in a year and a half, well ahead of the planned schedule. During Dinkov’s ministry, underground storage and the unified gas-supply system were also expanded, while development of new gas resources, including fields in the Turkmen SSR and the Caspian Depression, was pursued.