This book examines the development of the Russian economy from tsarist times to the present through the lens of the oil industry. It considers the role of the state, business-state relations, enterprise performance, technology and foreign participation. Besides providing much rich detail on the changing nature of the oil industry, the book also puts forward important conclusions, including the fact that in the late nineteenth century private enterprise rather than the state was the principal driver of economic development, and the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union incumbent managers were much more effective in running the oil industry than financier entrants, whose main concern was short term gain.