SOCIOLOGICAL AND INFORMATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF OIL AND GAS RESOURCES IN RUSSIAN ARCTIC ZONE.

AuthorBarbakov, Oleg M.
PositionReport
  1. Introduction

    The Arctic region, together with the adjacent ocean shelve covers more than a third of the Russian Federation territory. With the share of population at about 1%, the production here exceeds 60% of export earnings. Russian power structures have interest in the Arctic region, which, since the 18th century, periodically arises, reaches its climax, and gradually fades. The kind of an indicator is the creation or elimination of special North mini-ministries in the government.

    In 1960-1980, attention to the circumpolar region was caused by the necessity of forced formation of oil and gas cluster in the north of the Tyumen region. To this end, specific measures of mobilization of all the country's resources were used. So, a special department in the USSR State Planning Committee was created in addition to the normal management structures (Kuramin 2011). In the post-Soviet period (1990s-early 2000), it was recognized that the North was too expensive, funding to the region was dramatically reduced, and infrastructure, except for areas of oil and gas, was destroyed. The quantity of inhabited settlements was reduced by one third and, as a result of migration outflow, so was the population (North and the Arctic region 2010).

    The process of decolonization of the circumpolar region stopped only in the last decade due to the rise of a new attention to the Arctic region, primarily due to geopolitical reasons. New investment projects have been started, of course, on the main base of the country's oil and gas territory--the Tyumen region. The largest of these are: the development of Gydansky and Yamal peninsulas' deposits, the Gulf of Ob, Taz Estuary, the Kara Sea and the Bazhenov strata aquatorium, Achimov deposits of the Urengoy region, the Uvat group, etc. The construction of liquefied natural gas manufacturing plant with the capacity of 16. 5 million tons per year on the resource base of the South Tambeysk deposit, with subsequent competency expansion to 32 million tons per year was started on Gydansky peninsula. A sea port and an airport are being constructed in Sabetta town etc. (Veselin and Levinova 2012, Salvo et al. 2018).

    Adopted sanction measures against Russia have slowed down several of these projects, but the need to implement them is obvious. The development of the Arctic region actualizes the need to address the large number of extremely difficult economic, social, political, engineering and other problems. They require serious scientific support. It is necessary to quickly start interdisciplinary fundamental and applied researches of Arctic problems. A significant place among them should be taken by sociological studies as well. On the one hand, it allows to identify and evaluate all the interrelations and consequences of known and still latent problems, on the other--the possible alternative routes and technologies of their solutions, their system assessment at different scenarios of the region development.

    The economic development of the Arctic region for the adoption of modern and effective management solutions requires knowledge of the actual social situation on the territory where the works are proposed or already underway. Unfortunately, the statistics cannot provide reliable information on most of the required parameters. Their measurements using sociological tools are needed. It is necessary to take into account that oil and gas companies to a greater extent than the state which is determining the development strategy of the Arctic region, are not only unfocused on the social and humanistic development of this sector of the territory, but also insufficiently show their social responsibility. In addition, the North has a special underdevelopment and weak influence of the civil society institutions in comparison with other regions (Markin 2014). However, the interest of the highest echelons of Russian government in the Arctic region has significantly increased in recent years. The main purpose of Russian state policy in the sphere of scientific support of the Arctic region development today, was the decision to create the foundation of modern Arctic territory management. It includes addressing problems of defense and security, reliable operation of life support systems and production activities in the circumpolar region (Russian North 2012).

    To successfully address the last problem, the Russian Academy of Sciences initiated the development of the Comprehensive Program of socioeconomic development of the region, taking into account characteristics of individual territories, settlements, industrial facilities and communications to improve the quality of life of people living here. It is assumed that the Arctic region should turn into a strategic innovative bridgehead in perspective, where new efficient technologies, including social, will be developed and broadcast to other regions (Karpov 2015, Pitsykevych 2015). The authors, who have been studying social situation on the Western-Siberian North for a few decades (Konev 1992, Silin 2015) would like to share some of the results and thoughts about the place of science in the development of the Arctic region (Barbakov et al. 2018).

  2. Research methodology

    Power structures and various research foundations that are customers of scientific researches, receive numerous proposals based on applicants' scientific interest. But how to assess the significance of one or another research project to achieve the goal of effective socioeconomic development of the Arctic region? Obviously, first it is necessary to identify a set of problems that development participants encounter, evaluate them from the system positions, identify interrelations, alternative solutions and possible consequences.

    To carry out this work, we have implemented traditional sociological tools: Northerners' mass surveys, in-depth interviews with experts, media content analysis, including social networks, focus groups, etc. (Gorshkov and Sheregi 2012). Methodical toolkit was developed by the authors and saved with every small adjustment, allowing to analyze the dynamics of the ongoing changes. Sampling for mass survey was based on territorial and social criteria for selecting observation units and consisted of two stages. Initially, it was the selection of settlements based on their status in reclamation process and type of population. Next there was a respondents' selection in accordance with the social structure of the settlement. At the same time, selection criteria were both traditional, such as gender and age, and significant for our study, such as ethnicity, northern experience, and work experience in shift rotation.

    Analysis of the survey results was recorded in four main social groups of northerners: the old-timers, representatives of indigenous ethnic groups; settlers (who have lived in the north for less than 5 years); shift workers. The survey was conducted at workplaces--drilling units, training centers, shift personnel assembly points and helipads, as well as in national communities. In the latter case, the survey involved representatives of the northern ethnic minorities' intellectuals.

    Collection of information was usually based on respondents filling questionnaires. The specifics of the North related to the mobility of production, the uncertainty of the situation due to climatic conditions, etc. made advance planning and respondents' selection difficult. Therefore, the assurance of the sample representativeness required its mandatory 'repairs'.

    The results of conducted sociological studies were formalized. After this the set of criteria and indicators characterizing basic problems of oil and gas in the Arctic regional development, which were the basis of the so-called informational and sociological ranges, were formed. These ranges have become the basis of informational support of scientific researches of the Arctic regions. It is no secret that any decision-making supervisor deals primarily with the so-called semi-structured problems (Barbakov and Kiselyov 2012). In such cases, supervisor's actions can be unpredictable, basing on creative, heuristic, intuitive components of intellectual work, in the process of which, a person mentally plays out various solutions, analyzes provided information and sets timetables for the solution of the given problem. It is also possible to take indecisive approach.

    There are specific solutions for semi-structured problems: a wide range of alternatives can be taken into account. The said solutions also depend on the current imperfections of technological decisions, the level of risk in decision-making area, required amount of resource...

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