An attempt was made to look at the history of oil industry development in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra (KhMAO) from the very start of the project to its implementation. A decision making technology for the development of the Okrug economy is analyzed, its structure change as a result of industrialization is considered. Particular attention is paid to wrong solutions in settling social issues and to the reasons of technological advances retardation. It is explained how the state and the region authorities substituted a long-term perspective of the northern Okrug development with current interests during the crisis of 1970s–1980s under the lack of time and resources. Mutual interaction of national and regional political and economic interests and processes is demonstrated.