‘Climate change doesn’t worry us’: The end of Russia’s Siberian oil era is still a long way off
Drive through the swamplands of Western Siberia, and you’ll pass one oil installation after the next. This is the largest petroleum basin on Earth and the heartland of Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves.
Pipelines cut through the swampy ground. Fuel tankers thunder past, carrying hydrocarbons for global delivery.
There is not much sense of a climate crisis here.
In the city centre, a monument is built in the shape of a fountain of oil
Surgut is Siberia’s Houston, the oil capital of the region if not the country. Surgutneftegaz (‘neft’ is Russian for oil) is the main employer in town. Salaries, like in Russia’s other oil and gas cities, are among the highest in the country. Working for big oil has its perks.
In the city centre, Surgutneftegaz has built a monument in the shape of a fountain of oil, the faces of the oil workers modelled on actual employees.
There we meet a group of young recruits out on a team-building exercise, pretending to be oil pumps, which they do to peals of laughter.
“Climate change doesn’t worry us a lot,” one says.
“We were born here, we got used to the cold. Any climate conditions for us are fine.”
It is a sentiment you’ll hear a lot, especially among Siberians. That warmer temperatures as a result of climate change might not be all bad. President Putin‘s promise of carbon neutrality by 2060 draws blank stares. These youngsters have not heard about it and don’t know what it means.
For some young Siberians, climate change is not seen as a worry
I ask one of the supervisors if he thinks Russia will make it by 2060.
“Not in our lifetime,” he replies.
Our local driver remembers flying into Surgut in Soviet times, when the night skies were so lit up by flares from the oil fields that you felt you were landing into a fire. There are fewer now, but we still pass plenty, blazing like beacons in the night.
Flaring is when associated petroleum gases (APG) which accumulate during oil extraction are burnt off rather than stored or re-processed. APG is mostly methane, with a few other pollutants mixed in. Burning it to produce carbon dioxide is more environmentally friendly than venting it, releasing it deliberately, but there is still a substantial “methane slip”.
Young recruits pretend to be an oil pump on a team-building exercise
Flare analytics firm Capterio believes the global average methane slip amounts to around 10%, with total CO2 equivalent emissions from flaring therefore at 1.2bn tonnes. The firm estimates that’s around one-and-a-half times as much as the aviation industry emits, or the equivalent of taking every single car in the EU off the roads.
Russia is by far the worst flaring culprit worldwide. At many of the facilities we pass belonging to state oil giant Rosneft, the flares are substantial.
At one plant on the Mamontovskoye oil field where we stop to film, flares emit around six to seven million cubic feet of CO2 equivalent per day.
“That’s a moderate-sized flare on a global scale, but it is still bigger than almost every flare in the United States,” Capterio’s chief executive Mark Davis says – and it is by no means the largest around Surgut.
Russia is by far the worst flaring culprit worldwide
Those are just the emissions we can see. Then there is the direct release of methane from leaking pipelines or other oil and gas infrastructure, or from venting.
Drone technology means methane leaks are easy to pick up, enabling companies to clean up their act if they’re prepared to make the investment. Satellite technology means you can even spot the leaks from space, meaning companies that don’t can be identified.
If the EU goes ahead with a carbon border adjustment mechanism that would impose a levy on companies for high-carbon supply chains, Russia’s fossil fuel exports to its largest customer base could face substantial costs. No wonder, in Russia, the EU’s so-called “carbon tax” is not popular.
Russia’s oil and gas industry is vast, but Vladimir Putin promises carbon neutrality by 2060
Rosneft has pledged zero flaring by 2030 as part of a sustainability strategy that includes better monitoring of methane emissions along its pipelines and improved processing of APG. These are admirable goals, and it may well reach them.
But what Igor Sechin says – as Rosneft’s chief executive and one of the most powerful men in the country – and what middle managers in remote oil fields actually do in terms of efficient carbon management might prove tricky to marry up.
It is telling that BP – which holds a 19.75% stake in Rosneft – is aiming to be net-zero across the carbon in its upstream oil and gas production by 2050, with the notable exclusion of Rosneft.
It is telling, too, that Russia, as one of the top five methane emitters, has not signed on to the Global Methane Pledge finalised at COP26 which requires signatories to slash their methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
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The US president has reprimanded Russia, and China, for not showing up in Glasgow. But President Putin has come a long way in a short time on climate change, his absence probably more to do with not wishing to be scolded on other geopolitical points of difference than because he’s not engaged with the issue.
In a video address to the G20, he claimed Russia was among the world’s decarbonisation leaders. He also listed the reduction of associated gas discharge from the oil industry as one of a number of steps being taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
You don’t have to drive far through Surgut to find a pipeline like this one
But the flares we saw are one small measure of the distance Russia still has to travel. And the emissions from flaring, venting and leaking are just a fraction of what we burn from the consumption of fossil fuels.
Unless global habits change, Russia will continue to rely on oil, gas, and coal exports as countries muddle their way through the energy transition.
From Western Siberia, the end of the oil era looks like it’s still a long, long way off.
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World
Update given on health condition of Slovakia’s PM – as suspect in court over attempted assassination
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in a stable but serious condition as the man accused of attempting to assassinate him appeared in court for the first time.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova said further two-hour surgery on Friday “contributed to a positive prognosis” for the 59-year-old, who was shot five times at point blank range while greeting supporters in the former mining town of Handlova on Wednesday.
Pic: AP
However, although awake at the hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Mr Fico was taken by helicopter after being shot, his condition still made it impossible to transport him to the capital, Bratislava.
Read more:
Who is Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico?
Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak has said there was no need to formally take over Mr Fico’s official duties.
The suspected gunman was tackled to the ground and arrested at the scene of the attack and the first assassination attempt of a European political leader for more than 20 years.
He has previously been named as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a former shopping centre security guard who also writes poetry.
The special criminal court in Pezinok, a small town outside the capital, Bratislava, was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons for his court appearance.
The media were kept at a distance. Pic: AP
News media were not allowed in for the hearing and reporters were kept behind a gate outside.
Officers had taken the suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, to his home in the town of Levice on Friday and seized a computer and some documents, according to local media.
The attack sent shockwaves throughout Europe and raised concerns over the already polarised and febrile political situation in Slovakia.
Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova gave the latest update on the PM’s condition. Pic: Reuters
Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure.
His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American ticket fuelled worries among fellow EU and NATO members over the country’s direction.
Slovakia had previously been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, but on taking office Mr Fico halted arms supplies to the nation battling invading Russian forces.
Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest against his policies.
The bodies of three Israeli hostage taken by Hamas have been recovered in Gaza.
The remains were discovered in an overnight operation carried out by Israel’s military and intelligence agency Shin Bet, said chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22, were killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October, with their bodies then taken into Gaza by Hamas militants.
Ms Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.
Israel-Gaza war latest updates
Shani Louk
Itzhak Gelerenter
Amit Buskila
“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” said Mr Hagari.
He said their families have been notified.
“Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.”
The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.
Ms Louk’s father has said the return of his daughter’s body to her family has been a form of closure.
Nissim Louk told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz his daughter “radiated light, to her and those who surrounded her, and in her death she still does”.
He added: “She is a symbol of the people of Israel, between light and darkness. Her inner and outer beauty that shone for all the world to see is a special one.”
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‘No respect’ for the world after Gaza horrors
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In November, the brother of Ms Louk told Sky News of their last phone call as his sister tried to escape Hamas.
Speaking about the video that was circulated online after she was taken, Amit Louk said: “I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position.
“And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking”, saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Meanwhile, Professor Hagai Levine, a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has said the recovery of the bodies is a “painful reminder” of those who are still in captivity.
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Child with rare genetic disorder stuck in Gaza
“We do not lose hope. We are preparing for the return of the hostages that are alive,” he added.
Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the 7 October attack.
Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a ceasefire in November.
Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
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Gaza situation ‘a complete disaster’
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back.
He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas.
World
Slovakia PM shooting: Friend of suspect recalls laughing with him just days before assassination attempt
Mile L’Udovit is leaning on the front door of his apartment block when we meet, just as he has done so often since moving in four decades ago.
He was one of the original tenants of the tatty building and so was his dear friend Juraj Cintula – the man charged with trying to kill Slovakia’s prime minister.
Mile is at once shocked, bemused, appalled and bewildered.
“He’s a good friend,” he tells me. Both men are 71 years old and talked often. “He was a decent, polite man. A good worker. His wife is a professor and his kids were okay. He had a good reputation. Everything was okay.
“Nobody expected something like this to happen. No one could imagine it. That’s the worst thing about it.
“I spoke to him on Monday and we were having a laugh, like neighbours do. It’s so unpleasant.”
Suspect Juraj Cintula is the author of several poetry collections. Pic: ENEX
The apartment block where L’Udovit and Cintula have lived for decades. Pic: AP Photo/Denes Erdos
He shakes his head and gestures up to Cintula’s apartment on the top of the building. “He will either die or get a life sentence. It’s going to be so hard for his family.”
Cintula has not yet been officially identified as the suspect, but it’s common knowledge in Slovakia.
Read more:
PM Fico’s background, beliefs and politics
What we know about the shooting suspect
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Video shows moment Slovak PM was shot
Armed police even brought him back to the apartment, dressed in a bulletproof jacket and helmet, to help gather evidence. So why, I ask Mile, did his old friend allegedly try to kill Robert Fico?
“You know, I can’t really say,” he replies thoughtfully. “We took politics as something to laugh at. But we kept our own opinions – he had his, I had mine.
“He was opposed to certain acts of the government and his opinions were quite different. But what was in his mind? Really, nobody knows.”
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