The Environmental Effects of Development in the Angaro-Yenisei Region(2)

"Economic Development and the Environment"
on the Sakhalin Offshore Oil and Gas Fields II

The Environmental Effects of Development
in the Angaro-Yenisei Region

Hiromitsu Kitagawa

Background of Development

Natural Resources and Industries

Data and information on potential natural resources are still uncertain in Siberia, and statistics on present or recent resource production and export activities will be more useful for updating various issues related to the region's industries and environment (Stonehouse, 1990).

(1) Hydrocarbon Reserves and Production

The most promising oil and gas fields in the Angaro-Yenisei region are located in the Irkutsk region and Krasnoiarsk Krai. Krasnoiarsk Krai along with the Evenk and Taymyr Autonomous Districts are blessed with vast oil and gas resource potential. More than twenty oil and gas deposits have been discovered. The amount of estimated oil and gas reserves in the region is shown in Table 1 (Bandman, et al., 1999).

Table 1. Hydrocarbon Resources (Bandman, et al., 1999)
Located extracted reserves of hydrocarbons in the zone of proximity of the "Yenisei-NSR" transport system (by 1. 1. 1995)

Needless to say, development of energy resources is a key issue for both the central Russian government as well as the local governments in western Siberia since industrial and consumer systems depend heavily on energy. For the moment, only the oil and gas sector seems able to attract foreign investment. The present unstable system of Russian taxation is often criticized as a serious hindrance to further foreign investment. What can be cured must be endured.

The only current production of energy resources, however, is along the lower tributary of the Yenisei River by Noril'skgazprom. Gas is being produced at two sites, the South and North Solenino deposits, on the river's west bank, with pipelines of natural gas and condensates. The pipelines cross the Yenisei River to the city of Noril'sk to provide production energy for the Noril'sk mining-metallurgical plant. Noril'skgazprom also produces crude oil. The region's energy resource deposits might only contribute to the development of local mining and forestry sectors unless effective infrastructure in the region or an energy export scenario such as direct pipelines to the Chinese market are actually realized.

(2) The Non-Ferrous Metals Industry: Aluminum

The aluminum production industry requires vast quantities of energy. Production can be divided into five stages;

a) bauxite extraction,

b) alumna production,

c) refining alumna into primary aluminum,

d) semi-processed components production,

e) industrial aluminum products production.

The products at each stage can be transported and exported to other industrial zones or markets. Bauxite production from domestic Russian deposits has been reduced by slightly over 1 million tonnes in the period between 1991 to 1996, as shown in Table 2 (Ramsland, 1999).

Table 2. World Bauxite Production 1991-1996 (Ramsland, 1999)

	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Australia Guinea Jamaica Brazil China Venezuela India Suriname Russia Total	40.500.000 17.070.000 11.610.000 10.360.000 5.930.000 2.000.000 4.740.000 3.140.000 95.350.000	39.750.000 16.000.000 11.370.000 9.370.000 6.660.000 1.120.000 4.900.000 3.250.000 4.580.000 97.000.000	41.320.000 17.040.000 11.180.000 9.670.000 6.470.000 2.530.000 5.280.000 3.160.000 4.260.000 100.910.000	41.650.000 11.120.000 11.560.000 8.670.000 6.620.000 4.770.000 4.810.000 3.800.000 3.630.000 96.630.000	42.660.000 12.390.000 10.860.000 8.670.000 6.700.000 5.180.000 5.160.000 3.580.000 3.500.000 98.700.000	43.000.000 12.500.000 11.000.000 8.760.000 7.000.000 5.200.000 5.100.000 3.700.000 3.500.000 99.760.000

Source: Lloyds Shipping Economist 1998

Russia dominated aluminum production within the former Soviet Union, representing about 91% of the total output. East Siberia dominates the actual output in Russia, and about 75% of the output originates in eastern Siberia. Bratsk, in Irkutsk Oblast, is the major producer and Krasnoiarsk is the second largest. The Saiansk works in Khakasia and the amalgamated Siberian-Ural Aluminum (SUAL) company with production facilities in Irkutsk and Perm have marked outputs as shown in Table 3 (Ramsland, 1999).

Table 3. Major Prime Aluminum Producers and Exporters (Ramsland, 1999)

Russia : Major Prime Aluminum Producers and Exporters 1994-98 000' Tonnes
Name Bratsk Krasnoyarsk Alu Sayan Aluminium Siberian Urals Alu Company	Region Irkutsk Krasnoyarsk Khakasia Sverdlovsk	Products Primary A Primary A Primary A Primary A	1994 751 717 285	1995 768 756 315	1996 783 777 325 322	1997 800 787 327 331	1998
Total Primary Aluminium Production Krasnoyarsk Metall W	Krasnoyarsk	Roll Aluminium	1753 22	1838 40	2207 9	2245 9	3347

Source: Russian State Custom Committee - Interfax Newsagency 1998

Russia has a unique advantage in the export of aluminum. Most of the industrialized countries in the Northern Hemisphere have an equal disadvantage in terms of material abundance.

An important factor in determining the location of aluminum production is access to a cheap, renewable, continuous and abundant electricity supply, primarily based on hydroelectric power. Power supplies for aluminum production should adjoin or be relatively close to large reservoirs, such as the Bratsk plant near the Bratsk dam, the Krasnoiarsk plant near the similarly named dam, the Saiansk plant near the Saiano-Shushensk dam, and the Volgograd plant near the 22nd Congress dam.

Proximity to a littoral is also an important factor in determining the location of aluminum production, as suggested by Kandalaksha and Nadvoitsy's works.

(4) Nickel and Copper

It is well known that Russia is one of the world's major non-ferrous metals producer in the world and aluminum is of the most importance. Nickel and copper also have significant production and export figures. As for Russian nickel, Noril'sk Nickel has a monopoly in production; while copper production is conducted by more companies, about half the production is controlled by Noril'sk Nickel.

The North Taimyr Peninsula in Krasnoiarsk Krai and Murmansk Oblast are major nickel producing regions. Together with these regions, copper production takes place south of the Urals, in Magadan, etc.

(5) Wood

The region is abundant in natural resources, such as minerals, oil and gas, and wood.

Wood reserve figures for 1993 showed that Russia's wood-covered areas comprised about 655 million hectares and that the total wood reserves were about 73 billion cubic meters, more than half of which were concentrated in Siberia, as shown in Table 4 (Ramsland, 1999). The wood reserves in eastern Siberia amount to 37% of the total.

Table 4. Production of the Main Types of Products of the Wood-working Complex of Russia

Types of products	Production in Russia					Siberian part. in %%
Types of products	1970	1980	1988	1990	1996	1970	1980	1988	1990	1996
Timber logging mill. m³	277	256	280	242	74	27.0	28.5	30.7	32.2	28.2
Sawn timber mill. m³	92	81	85	75	22	25.3	31.2	33.2	33.8	32.0
Plywood 1000 m³	1421	1460	1727	1597	850	7.3	11.0	17.0	16.4	13.0
Shaving wooden plates 1000 m³	...	3491	5490	5490	1472	...	...	...	...	20.0
Fiber wooden plates mill. m²	171	386	501	483	184	5.2	18.1	19.3	19.5	25.0
Pulp. 1000 tons	4735	6765	8349	752	4200	18.6	22.6	25.4	29.3	32.3
Paper. 1000 tons	3476	4462	5334	5240	1800	3.6	2.7	2.2	2.1	...
Cardboard. 1000 tons	1973	2536	3249	3085	1310	13.6	19.7	20.4	19.0	25.0

As mentioned earlier, statistical analyses should be performed for data from the late 1980s. In the 1980s, wood products such as timber logging and sawn timber products (65%), pulp and paper production (25%), plywood (4.5%), cardboard (5%) and wooden shaved plates and wooden fiber plates (2.5%) were exported from Russia. European countries were the main consumers of these wooden products. Sawn wood products were the only exception; they were exported to Asian countries, mainly Japan and China.

Ecology

The Angaro-Yenisei region is characterized by the confluence of three ecological zones. The Taimyr peninsula is located mostly in the tundra zone, where short shrubs and lichen-covered hummocks in the warm season support the Taimyr population of wild tundra reindeer and a wide variety of waterfowl. Intersecting the tundra and the central Siberian taiga is an immense area of dense forests of larch and pine interspersed with large patches of tundra and marsh. This patched micro-ecological zone along the tree-line provides a favourable environment for fur-bearing animals, i.e., the arctic fox, forest reindeer and other large mammals such as bear and moose. Traditional native settlements are located along the forests' edge. Classic Siberian taiga fir trees and cedars with luxurious fur-bearing animals such as sable characterize the third zone along the right bank of the Kureika river north to the port of Igarka.

The Pultoran plateau, starting on the right bank of the Yenisei River, has a marked ecological effect, pushing the tree-line zone far past the Arctic Circle.

Table 5. Population Figures for the Indigenous Peoples of the North (Sokolova & Iakovlev, 1998)

Indigenous Peoples	Number of indigenous peoples in 1989 and % 1979
Indigenous Peoples	Total number of indigenous peoples	% 1979	Including rural	% 1979
1. Nenets 2. Evenks 3. Khanty 4. Evens 5. Chukchi 6. Nanaitsy 7. Koryaki 8. Manci 9. Dolgany 10. Nivhi 11. Selkups 12. Ulchi 13. Itelmens 14. Udegeitsy 15. Saami 16. Eskimos 17. Chuvantsy 18. Nganasany 19. Yukagirs 20. Kety 21. Orochi 22. Tofalary 23. Aleuty 24. Negidalts 25. Entsy 26. Oroki TOTAL	34665 30233 22521 17199 15183 12017 9242 8459 6092 4673 3612 3233 2480 2011 1890 1718 1511 1278 1142 1113 915 713 702 622 209 190 184478	115,9 110,8 107,6 137,3 108,4 114,3 117,3 111,8 137,0 106,3 101,3 126,7 181,0 129,6 100,1 113,8 - 147,4 136,8 99,2 - 95,8 128,6 123,4 - - 116,5	28340 23909 15649 12769 12995 7210 6371 4490 5283 2284 2664 2287 1485 1186 1117 1315 639 915 698 891 468 625 408 363 117 28 134503	112,5 111,9 97,5 124,5 108,5 109,3 113,9 93,3 123,5 99,0 93,5 125,2 154,4 110,6 97,3 115,1 - 121,5 122,5 100,3 96,1 124,5 124,4 108,0 - - 110,9

Human Geography

It is said that the first appearance of native peoples in the lower Yenisei valley goes back eight thousand years. These peoples possess their own cultures, languages, and attitudes towards each other, which are far from uniform. The population figures for the indigenous peoples of the north are shown in Table 5 (Sokolova & Iakovlev, 1998). They have been practicing, however, a similar type of economy based on harvesting what their land gives them for their own use and for trade.

Reindeer herders, who have managed to operate transportation systems without fuel oil or machine-made devices, have visited numerous pastures hundreds of kilometers away from their home and found the most appropriate feed or most favourable weather for the reindeer. Some peoples have preferred to fish and placed traps. Mechanical devices and snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles, however, have become gradually common, even for the native peoples in this region.

The other type of land use, as Anderson stated, is based on the industrial economy that produces the means for people to keep their immediate environment as stable and uniform as possible on the basis of the sale of a single-commodity export in world markets. This type of civilization appeared in Russia as early as the 17th century in small confined areas but became common across the country only after the Second World War (Forsyth, 1992). This relatively new type of land use in the region created conflicts between people who used immense areas of land against people who used land intensively. Conflict was also created between people and the environment. The imprudent and destructive attitude of Russian colonialism towards indigenous cultures, seen through most of its history, and frequently seen in other countries, has improved greatly in the post-Soviet period of the Russian Federation.

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