Russia's oil production

Contents

    Ulla Lehtinen: "Indigenous peoples and oil" events in Finland 1999 
    Olli Tammilehto: A civilised world or a bloodsucker of the earth? 
    Background information on oil 
    Russia's oil production 
    Florian Stammler: Where does our oil come from? 
    Yeremei Aipin: Russia's oil industry and the development of rights of indigenous people 
    Agrafena Sopochina: "We Live on what the earth carries on itself" 
    Yuri Vella: Kogalym-Lor - the lake where a man died 
    Bruce Forbes: Industrial development in the Yamal-Nenets Area 
    Lidia Okotetto: I no longer understand the tundra that has loved me 
    Grigorii Anagurichi: A clash of civilisations at the ends of the world 
    Charity Nenebari Ebeh: The Ogoni experience 
    Magda Lanuza: Oil production in Central America 
    Ecuador and oil 
    Arturo Yumbai Iligama: The war against the poor 
    Colombia, the U'wa and oil 
    Roberto Afanador Cobaria: Oil is blood of the earth 
    Workshop 1: The strategies of oil industry and the responses of indigenous peoples' movements 
    Workshop 2: Networking of indigenous peoples threatened by oil and gas exploration 
    Workshop 3: Northern Dimension
    Communique of the participants in the seminar "Indigenous Peoples and Oil" 
    Internet links
 The former Soviet Union, i.e., the CIS countries form one of the largest groups of oil and gas producing countries outside OPEC. The countries produce about 10 per cent of the world's oil and about 30 per cent of the gas. Some of the world's biggest oil and gas fields are situated in Russia, especially in Siberia. The other important oil and gas producing region is the Caspian Sea and its surroundings, where Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are some of the biggest producers. Mainly National oil companies and companies owned by the economic giants of Russia, "the oligarches", operate in the area.

Western oil companies have been most active in Azerbaijan as well as in Kazakhstan, and in smaller extent in Russia. The Finnish company Fortum, i.e., formerly Neste, is among those working in the region. About half of Finland's oil and almost all gas come from the CIS countries. 

The oil production in the former Soviet Union has very bad environmental protection record just like in many other oil-producing countries. Polluted land and water tables, rusted drilling machinery and destroyed forests are common sight in western Siberia and in Komi.

The northern part of Russia became the target of a dramatic change in the 1930s. According to Stalinist totalitarian policy the Soviet government forced indigenous peoples who until then had been living a half-nomadic life into collective farms. Children were placed in Soviet schools where they became estranged from their parents' language and culture. Three decades later the collective farms that operated as co-operatives were transformed into sovkhozes which were directly run by the government. 

Due to the oil boom in the 1960s and 1970s, there has been a large migration from the other areas of the Soviet Union to the territories occupied the Khanty, Nenets and Mansi. The Ob River and its numerous tributaries have been the basis of the livelihood of these peoples. They have been polluted due to heavy industries and especially oil exploitation.

Since the time of perestroika, at least in theory oil companies cannot drill without the permission of the inhabitants. But because Russia's budget depends largely on oil and gas exports, the indigenous peoples living near and on the oil fields have not been taken notice of.

The Khanty 

Population: 13,000 - 22,000

The Khanty live as a minority in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area as well as in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area in Western Siberia. Like all the people of the arctic zone, they are reindeer herders, gatherers, hunters and fishermen. They speak Khanty that belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of languages.

The Nenets 

Population: 27,000 - 34,000

The Nenets are minority people in a wide area in the North of Russia and northwestern Siberia, mainly in the Nenets, the Yamal-Nenets and the Taimyr autonomous areas. Their sources of livelihood are reindeer herding, gathering, hunting and fishing. They speak Nenets, one of the Samoyedic languages, which belong to the Finno-Ugric languages.