Reindeer Blog

(Picture - Miriam Elder, From the Moscow Times, 11042008) NARYAN-MAR, Nenets Autonomous District — When an airplane carrying LUKoil workers crashed in the far north of this Arctic region three years ago, killing 29 of 52 people on board, many blamed the weather.
When, one year later, in March 2006, a helicopter carrying victims’ relatives to a [...]

(Pic: BarentsObserver) On a recent trip to Yamal, the deputy CEO of Gazprom said that Bovanenkovskoe  is on track to start production in 2011. (Об итогах совещания ОАО «Газпром» и Администрации ЯНАО по вопросам взаимодействия при обустройстве Бованенковского месторождения и строительстве системы магистральных газопроводов «Бованенково – Ухта»)
Bovanenkovskoe will be connected by pipeline and more than [...]

ICR Director Anders Oskal was interviewed by NRK Sami Radio on January 29th about the impacts of oil and gas development on Nenets reindeer husbandry. Oskal pointed out that there were a great many actors on the scene, some of whom are not willing to negotiate with reindeer herders.
Oskal also said that on his recent visits [...]

Industry analysts say that future development on the Yamal peninsula, the world’s largest area of reindeer husbandry, will dwarf Shtokman, another giant deposit, located in the stormy Barents Sea. Yamal holds around one third of Gazprom’s reserves, or more than 10 trillion cubic metres. Thanks to these reserves, Gazprom have been flexing their muscles towards foreign [...]

(Pic: BBC News) ‘Viewing every problem through the prism of reindeer’ was the theme of a recent report by the BBC in a pre election visit to the Khanty Mansisk region, which in common with other regions that have experienced oil and gas wealth have seen a vast improvement in facilities, but concerns about what [...]

Russia’s Gazprom monopoly will start-up a major northern field that will deliver gas to Europe through the future Nordstream pipeline, Chairman of Gazprom Board of Directors and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev (and likely successor to Vladimir Putin told reporters on Thursday. “Gazprom will commission the Yuzhno-Russkoye field at 10:00 hours Moscow time [...]

According to an article in the Financial Times, StatoilHydro plans to have a drilling rig working continuously looking for gas in the area around the Snøhvit development, over the next 18 months, to see if there is justification for the construction of a second LNG line. Eni of Italy, leader of the Goliat project, in [...]

(Pic-Kommersant) In a closed door meeting with President Putin, Shell’s chief executive Jeroen van der Veer (left in picture, Northern Sakhalin covered with oil rigs) announced that Shell planned to target the Yamal Peninsula and the Kara Sea in a ‘giant’ way. The Yamal Peninsula is the world’s largest area of reindeer husbandry. A working [...]

(Pic - Barents Observer) Gazprom’s plans for 2008 place the development of Yamal at the top of their agenda, according to their recent press release. The region is also home to the largest area of reindeer husbandry in the world. From the press release…

The major gas production projects are as follows: constructing infrastructure for the [...]

With the ink barely dry on the Statoil - Shtokman deal, with northern political leaders excited about the boost in future investment in the region, other mega projects are starting to emerge. A Swedish company called BothnianArc has applied to the Nordic Council of Ministers for funding to conduct preliminary investigations on the economic [...]