Born in the capital city of Baku, Azerbaijan, Alekperov came from modest origins — his father worked in the oil fields and he briefly did the same. He was educated at the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute. After stints in the Caspian Sea and Siberia, he became the Soviet Union’s deputy energy minister in 1989.

After dissolution, he used his position to his advantage. Alekperov ended up with a 10 percent stake in the company Lukoil. Formerly known as Langepas-Uray-Kogalymneft, Lukoil was originally a subsidiary of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy made up of three companies based in three Siberian towns. As a result of their merger, Lukoil was reorganized into a firm involved in discovery, extraction, refinery, and sales.