Organizational Reforms and Automation of the Soviet Gas Transportation System: The Case of Azerbaijan's Aztransgaz in the Mid 1970s (Republican Newspaper Article)

This publication contains an archival primary source document, its metadata, and full-text translations (into English and Azerbaijani) of a historical interview with Abutalib Mir Aga oglu Abdullaev, the Director of the newly established "Aztransgaz" Production Association. The material was originally published in the republican newspaper "Bakinskiy Rabochiy" No. 299 (17216) on Tuesday, December 24, 1974, in Baku, Azerbaijan. The interview, titled "Effect of Concentration" (under the section "Improving Management"), examines the key organizational, structural, and technological shifts within the Soviet gas industry during the mid-1970s. It highlights the practical benefits of centralized management, the establishment of regional dispatch services, and the comprehensive automation and telemechanization of gas transport processes. The document provides crucial historical and sociological context regarding the operations of regional main pipelines, including the "Druzhba" routes and the Trans-Iranian gas pipeline, which ensured stable gas supply to the Transcaucasian republics (Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia) within the Unified Gas Supply System of the USSR.