Megion is situated in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous district in the North of Western Siberia. It has a latitude of 61'01" and a longitude of 76'12", the altitude is 45m below sea level. Located on the Central Sredneobskoy plain on the right bank of the River Ob, Megion is 380km further East of Khanty-Mansiysk and 760km to the North-East of Tyumen. The area is 50.51km squared and the nearest airport is in Nizhnevartovsk, 30km away.

Megion deviates from Moscow time by -2hours and it is 2290km away from the capital. It has a population of 51.6 thousand people.

A snapshot of Megion's history:

The first ever mention of Megion was in 1810 by the researcher AA Gorkavicha Dunin, in his writing he described a group of houses that lay at the mouth of several rivers which skirted the mainland near the sea.

Acording to official figures published in the Tobolskoy province in 1912, Megion was a parish of the county Lokosovskoy Surgut, based around the Traktovoy station.

On 29^th September 1964 Megion was pronounced a town.

On 23^rd July 1980 a decree by the President of the Supreme Council called for a conversion of the town Megion Nizhnevartovskogo into a region of Tyumen city district, a decision which changed the city's name.

The emblem of the city, pictured above, represents the established rules and traditions directed by the Blazonry, it is also the symbol of the city and local government. 

The emblem appears at the head office of the local government in Megion, it also features on all state correspondence and associated enterprises.

The heraldic flag, pictured here, is the official symbol of the municipality. Both the flag and the emblem were officially adopted by the city on 19^th July 2001.

A detailed history:

1781-1804: - Megion is known as Mayonskie Yurts of Vahovskoy, a parish of Surgut county.
1804-1867: - Megion is known as Mayonskie Yurts of Lokovskoy within Berezovsky county.
1810: First mention of Megion in print: the researcher AA Gorkavicha Dunin described "housing, lying at the mouth of rivers which skirt the mainland next to the sea"
1867-1923: - Megion is known as Mayonskie Yurts of Lokosovskoy in the county of Surgut, Tyumen province.
1923-1925: - Megion is renamed Yurts Megion Vampugolskogo, a village in the Alexander area of the Tobolskogo district of the Urals.
Early 1930s: - Megion is renamed again as Megion Khanty village. The five families that live in Megion Khanty are described as living in small huts, surviving by hunting, fishing and gathering fruits in the wild.1925-1932: - Megion is now known as Yurts Megion Vampugolskogo, a village in the Alexander area of the Tomsk region.
1932-1936: - Megion loses the "Yurts" to become Megion Vampugolskogo, a village in the Alexander area of the Narymskogo district, West Siberia.
1936-1940: - Megion Vampugolskogo village is redefined as being in the Laryakskogo Ostyako-Vogulskogo district of the Omsk region.
1940-1944: - Megion Vampugolskogo village is now in the Laryakskogo area of the Khanty-Mansi district, in Omsk.
1944-1961: - Megion Vampugolskogo is in the Laryakskogo area of the Khanty-Mansi district, Tyumen
Late 1950s: - Megion begins test drilling for oil.
March 1960: - First artesian wells are completed after two years by G.Norkina. Despite drilling having been completed, tests are done for another year before use. This drilling accessed the first oil in the Middle Priobe.
March 1961: - Top drilling company GI Norkina strikes first oil. (resistant Bagras struck first fountain of oil wells drilling wizard GI Norkina
20^th March 1961: - The birthday of oil production in Megion, this day marks the beginning of the development wells tapping the oil and gas in Western Siberia. This start went on to make Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug the centre of the country's oil production.
5^th Jun 1964: - The first Abstinence Omsk oil refinery was opened. The rights to the production of this oil belonged to Norkinu GI.
1961-1962: - Megion is now in the Tyumen region of the Laryakskogo area.
February 1962: - On this day the Megion "Nefterazvedochnaya" expedition began. Initially for 280 people, the expedition quickly expanded leading to geologists opening 13 oilfields during the first decade of its existence. The largest of these oilfields is the internationally recognized Samotlor.
1962-1964: - Megion is now in the Khanty-Mansiysk Tyumen region.
1964: - The first barge containing "black gold" was sent up the Ob to Novosibirsk. Since then crude oil production has exceeded hundreds, thousands and millions of tons.
1964-1980: - Megion is now in the Nizhnevartovskogo HMAO Tyumen region.
1980-present: - In the past two and a half decades Megion has been transformed into a modern city with the socio-economic infrastructure that this entails.  Recent years have seen unprecedented urban development, including the construction of a music school, two secondary schools, the city administration head office, a railway station, an Orthodox church and accommodation.

Present day Megion:

Megion has developed a policy for nurturing talented artists through such programmes as the Municipal Art Team: "Inspiration". This team is comprised of musical talent from many different genres, covering everything from Russian folk and spiritual music to opera.  The team has been involved in many competitions, achieving high accolades and great success. This spring "Inspiration" was presented the award for choral music, established by the Governor and Artistic Director J.P. Stotskaya, and presented by the District Office of Cultural Events.

A grant from the Governor's regional team has recently been awarded for the establishment of a biosada in the local history museum, a part of the Research and Environmental centre based in Megion.

Today unique artifacts, scientific discoveries and the writings of indigenous peoples of Siberia and the North are being collected by Megion Ekotsentra. This information is being passed on to museums and research institutes throughout Russia and CIS countries.

Megion is also the home of the unique Northern school of painting directed by the professional artist AF Muhametova. The creativity of the young artists from Megion is not only known in the Tyumen region, but throughout the country. The Moscow foundation "New Names" has recently recognised these talented children of Megion and spoken in support of their creativity.

The top priority of the local government and the oil companies here is the health of the people that live and work in Megion. Significant changes have taken place in recent years to move Megion forward and away from the once temporary medical facilities and towards the new, modern and well equipped facilities of today.

Megion has also continued to improve the sports facilities and complexes in the city, such as the CSR "Pearl". A tribute to the promotion and development of sporting talent and facilities in Megion has been the success of local boxers on the international stage. Eugene Soroka, Sergei Pletosu, Dmitri Strunin and Arthur Dadanov are some of the men who have also ensured that Megion is a frequent winner of district and All-Russian competitions.

Nadejda Smirnova and Marina Kravchenko have also achieved excellent results in acrobatics and at the last world cup, the world class athlete Andrei Akinshin, came third and in second place overall for the entire championship. Mikhail Povh, a candidate for the wizard sport, also brought in sports "Poems" Megiona much-deserved awards and prizes.

Megion's aviation sports centre "Icarus" has been open for three years now and skydiving has become a popular weekend and holiday activity for many people here.

The RF Motorcross Championship has traditionally been held here in Megion and attracts the very best in the sport each year to the city. Anatoly Daines, Alexei Bessarabov and Nikolai Lebedev will all be representing their home towns when the competition takes place this year. Nikolai Lebedev was the champion of the 1998-1999 season.

In 1998 the literary society "Logos" was founded to bring together writers and poets in the city. The well known and best loved authors Viktor Kozlov, Tatiana Jurgenson and Lilia Takashevoy have all been a part of this group.