city, Estonia, near the Gulf of Finland. Founded in 1900 and incorporated in 1946, it lies on the Tallinn–St. Petersburg road and railway. Its principal industry is the processing of oil shales based on local deposits; shale-gas pipelines were constructed to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1948 and to Tallinn in 1953. A related chemical industry in the city produces diverse petroleum products, and Kohtla-Järve also has a fertilizer plant. In 1993 the nearby towns of Ahtme, Kukruse, Oru, Sompa, and Viivikonna were administratively merged with Kohtla-Järve. Pop. (1996 est.) 68,533.