The first oil refinery at Naantali was brought on stream a couple of years after this. Raade and his friend, Prime Minister and from 1956 President of the Republic Urho Kekkonen were responsible for promoting the project; Kekkonen rallied the politicians and Raade took care of relations to industry at home and abroad.
Already in this role he was involved in the founding of the Finnish oil industry. In 1955, he was appointed managing director of Neste.