[2] Serebrovsky was born in Ufa to the wealthy family of an exiled member of Narodnaya Volya, the organization responsible for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881.

[5] In May 1920, the Council of People's Commissars (CPC) sent 35-year-old Serebrovsky to the Absheron Peninsula to head Azneft,[4] the newly created conglomerate of nationalized Azerbaijani oil enterprises.

[6][7][8][9] Serebrovsky's first arrival in the United States was on July 29, 1924; the next day, he visited the central office of the Standard Oil Company of New York, negotiating with Walter C.

First, he would give a letter of guarantee to his bank to pay our supplier invoices from future earnings on petroleum products.... Rockefeller thought for a long time, and then looked at me attentively and unexpectedly agreed.

I was hardly able to keep up with him, and my leg ached.”[6] During the return sea voyage from the US to Europe, Serebrovsky finished his book The Oil and Gas Industry in America [Нефтяная и газовая промышленность в Америка], which summarized his stay in the US.

[6] Serebrovsky was dubbed the "Soviet Rockefeller" for his work on the Caucasian oil fields, and introduction of American drilling tools and techniques.

[12] Having successfully completed his assignment to return the Caucasian oil fields[6] to production, Serebrovsky was charged by Joseph Stalin with the task of reforming the Soviet gold industry.

[16] Littlepage initially dismissed Serebrovsky's offer of work in the USSR stating that he "did not like Bolsheviks" as they "seem to have the habit of shooting people, especially engineers.

Serebrovsky was arrested on September 23, 1937, and on February 8, 1938, was convicted of “counter revolutionary activities” by the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court.