The article describes the history of the discovery and development of deposits in the Mangistau region. Despite the fact that more than 120 years since the discovery and development of the oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, there are no special expert works, which has become a historiographic problem of numerous published studies. Oil production in the USSR in 1950 increased by 22% compared to 1940. The share of the eastern regions, including the oil production of Kazakhstan, is 40%. The oil industry of Kazakhstan before the war, a significant part of the trusts Embamunai and Aktobemunai, joint all exploration, drilling, production, in the post-war years in the oil industry of the republic have serious structural changes. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the discovery of the Kenkiyak, Prorva, Kosozeno mines was of great importance in the development of the entire complex of the oil and gas industry in Kazakhstan. During these years, the extracted oil and gas reserves from the Mangistau peninsula were identified and increased, which immediately raised the level of quality and skill level of oil workers in Kazakhstan among the large unions of oil producers in Russia and Azerbaijan. When writing the article, archival data, dissertations and monographic works published in recent years were used. Mangystau mining, which has its place in the economic development of an independent country, is the basis of the socioeconomic development of the peninsula. The written article also mentions problems with the data of cities, demographic growth and ecological state.