r`gt), city (1989 pop. 248,000), in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Siberian Russia, on the Ob river. An oil and gas center as well as a port, it is connected by rail and pipeline to the Urengsy gas fields. Surgut became a city in 1965.Surgut
a city under okrug jurisdiction and administrative center of Surgut Raion, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (formerly, Khanty-Mansi National Okrug), Tiumen’ Oblast. Since 1975 linked by rail with Tiumen’. Port on the right bank of the Ob’ River. Population, 60,000 (1975).
Surgut was founded in 1593 as an ostrog (fortified settlement) on the site of a former Ostiak fortress. It was given the name of a nearby branch of the Ob’ River. In 1782 it became a city of the namestnichestvo (vicegerency) of Tobol’sk. It did not have city status between 1804 and 1867. It was made a district city of Tobol’sk Province in 1868 and became a district administrative center in 1898. In the first years of Soviet power, Surgut was designated a settlement because of its low population. Since 1930 it has been under the jurisdiction of the Khanty-Mansi National Okrug, which became part of the newly formed Tiumen’ Oblast in 1944.
Surgut developed rapidly after the discovery of rich oil and gas deposits in the 1950’s and 1960’s and was granted city status in 1965. A major center of the Western Siberian oil and gas basin, it has a state regional electric power plant, a housing construction combine, a logging and timber distribution establishment, and a fish-packing combine. Educational and cultural institutions in the city include a branch of the Tiumen’ Industrial Institute, a petroleum technicum, a music school, and a museum of local lore.
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