At today’s First Minister’s Questions inHolyroodthere was rare equanimity. All parties were united in condemning the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The urgent need for Scotland, the UK, and Europe to attain energy security and stop the importation of oilandgas from Russia was also unanimously recognized.
There was less agreement on the short-term steps to be taken to reduce dependence on Russian oil and gas exports. These are the proceeds that Vladimir Putin uses to finance his militaristic aggression. These costs are likely to rise further due to the shock to energy markets caused by the international embargo against Russian oil and gas.
Russia has huge reserves of oil, gas and natural gas. The vast majority of these resources are found in Western Siberia and the Arctic north. The extraction of these reserves has nearly destroyed the culture and traditional lifestylesof the Khanty and Mansi, Selkup and Komi peoples. This has caused disruption to their hunting grounds as well as the migration routes of the reindeer flocks upon which they used to depend. It has reduced them to a tiny minority in their traditional lands.
Half of Russia’s oil is produced within the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District, Siberia. However, the lucrative industry has brought nothing but trouble to the region’s native people. Khanty minorities have seen forests disappearing and food supplies for their reindeer dry out as oil companies expand into the land they depend on. In the rush to extract as many oil as possible, the Mansi and Khanty have also seen their sacred sites destroyed.
Russian oil and natural gas extraction has terrible environmental consequences. A report from 2021 describes a major oil leakage in the Komi republic, which was the worst oil spillage on land. Multiple leakages in Soviet-era pipelines were discovered to have been going on for eight months.
The authorities kept it secret, but the oil slick reached 15cm below the Pechora river. This was an important source of fish to the Komi people. The estimated oil loss is between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes. The oil spillage caused by the disaster affected fishing and farming communities. They were compensated with just 36 rubles per head, which is roughly 5 before the recent collapse of the Russian currency’s value.
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Russian oil and natural gas exploitation is done without regard for the environment or the indigenous peoples whose land the oil fields are located. According to the Russian Ministry of Energy there were more 17,000 oil spillages in 2019, mostly through pipelines. According to Russian government data, an oil spillage is occurring in Russia every half an hour. The US, however, recorded 137 oil spillages in 2018. Only 60 incidents involving oil releases were recorded in Canada in 2019, a country where the climate at oil wells is similar to Russia.
Not only would it deprive Putin from the income he requires to finance his military, but it would also discourage the most polluting and environmental damaging fossil fuel extraction industry in the world.
The UK is less dependent upon imported Russian oil and natural gas than other European nations, largely due to Scotland’s vast oil and gas resources. However, the embargo against Russian supplies will have an impact the British domestic energy market. Russia is responsible for only 3% of Scotland’s gas and 8% oil and petroleum.
Today at FMQs, Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, pressed the Scottish Government for more oil and gas production from the North Sea to make up the shortfall. This was interesting considering that Douglas and his party are keen to tell Scots that oil will run out whenever the subject of Scottish independence is brought up.
Ross’s request was rejected by the First Minister. He pointed out that the North Sea’s existing oil and gas fields are already producing at their full capacity and that Cambo, which is a new field, will not be able come on stream until 2026. It is not a solution to the urgent need for energy security or abstaining form Russian oil and gas.
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The First Minister stated that the current crisis only reinforces the urgency for a transition away oil and gas to renewables. He urged the UK Government, through its borrowing power, to intervene to mitigate the impact of rising fuel bills on domestic consumers.
The solution to oil and gas disasters is not more oil and gaz, but a redoubled effort to transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Putin is not just destroying Ukraine; it’s also destroying Siberia and Russia’s Arctic communities.