Oil has been used since ancient times. Excavation on the bank of the Euphrates River revealed the existence of an oil field 6-4 thousand years before Christ. At that time, oil was used as fuel, and oil bitumen - in construction and road construction. Already in Ancient Sumer made bricks from burnt clay, which were used for construction, and earth tar - bitumen as lime for bonding bricks. Bitumen is oil, from which all the most easily evaporating fractions are removed. Oil was also known in Ancient Egypt, where it was used to embalm the dead. Plutarch and Dioskorid mention oil as a fuel used in Ancient Greece. About 2 thousand years ago it was known about its deposits in Surakhany near modern city of Baku. Oil is also mentioned in the Old Testament in the following books: Genesis; Joshua; Third Book of Kings; Fourth Book of Kings; Psalter; Prophet Isaiah; Prophet Daniel; Third Book of Ezra; Solomon's Wisdom; Second Book of Maccabees.