Despite the fact that people have known about oil since ancient times, active oil production began only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kazakhstan was one of the first countries where geographic and hydrogeological surveys of the area began in order to search for oil deposits. Today, the country has large-scale oil reserves, is engaged in its active production and export. However, the history of the country's oil industry is not so long - just over 122 years. At present, it is very important for our country to form an industrial and technological strategy based on world best practices. All modern developed states over a certain historical period have gone through a path where the growth of production first required a lot of human labor, and reached a level of production that requires capital, technology and science. Similarly, Kazakhstan, as a young state, had to go through these stages, overcoming difficulties. In order not to remain at the level of a country that focuses only on the extraction of raw materials, we must develop an industry that produces world-class products based on high technology. The purpose of this article is to study the key historical stages, thanks to which, in such a short period of time, the country was able to become one of the world's oil producers. This paper examines the prerequisites for the development of the oil industry, analyzes the main stages of its formation, and also gives a brief assessment of the current state of the oil industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan.