Arctic oil rush: Nenets’ livelihood and habitat at risk from oil spills
An oil terminal to be built in northern Russia where the river Yenisei meets the Arctic Ocean lacks the technology to deal with oil spills, say environmentalists. The livelihood of the Nenets people who live along the northern stretches of the Yenisei, Russia’s longest river, depends on two pursuits: fishing and reindeer herding. But locals have said both of those activities are under threat from an oil terminal due to be built on the Tanalau cape, near where the river empties into the Arctic Ocean. Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have protested against the high risk of an oil spill in difficult Arctic conditions. More than 40 people have signed a letter of protest to the company building the terminal, the Independent Petroleum Company (IPC). “They should drill oil, but need to do so in an orderly manner,” said a resident of Baikalovsk, the village closest to the terminal site, who refused to give a name for fear of repercussions at work. “The reindeer will go further away, that’s OK, we’ll find them, but if we foul up the Yenisei, it will be a catastrophe.” The Tanalau terminal is part of a rush to develop oil fields in the far north as production declines in western Siberia. President Vladimir Putin opened Gazprom Neft’s Arctic Gate in May, one of three oil terminals in the Russian Arctic, which ramped up shipments to nearly 250,000 barrels a day this summer. The terminal is adjacent to a site where a joint venture by the Russian state oil champion Rosneft and BP plan to begin drilling exploratory wells this spring. A BP spokesman said it was too early to say whether oil discovered there could be transported through the terminal. IPC did not reply to requests for comment.
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on Dec 26 2016. Filed under News at Now.
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