Establishing a gas industry in the Arctic Zone: Soviet-era practices

The article reviews the main practices of establishing gas industry in the northern districts of Tyumen Oblast, which coincide with part of the Arctic land zone. The research source base consisted of documents from the fund of Glavtyumengazprom (Main Tyumen Gas Production Directorate) of Mingazprom (USSR Ministry of the Gas Industry) held in the State Archive of Tyumen Oblast. The documents were identified through a comprehensive review of the fund. The main areas of the study were: management practices, preparation of fields for commissioning, pipeline construction, and permafrost studies. The research aimed to identify the main periods and types of activities (practices) of the national government and the USSR Mingazprom in developing the gas fields of the Yamalo-Nenets National (Autonomous) Okrug, to determine the basic features of each period, taking into account the evolving nature of the activities. Among the general scientific methods applied in the research were analysis and synthesis. The systems approach made it possible to understand that the studied reality represented a set of interconnected phenomena and developed towards sustainability and balance. The analysis of dynamic series of indicators of the process under study allowed for the quantitative estimates contained within them to be used to identify qualitative features of the phenomena. Among the historical methods, the historical-logical method was prioritized; it is associated with examining reality in its emergence and development. The historical method made it possible to show the movement of the object within time intervals, while the historical-logical method revealed the essence of what was happening, taking into account spatial-temporal reality. The application of the historical-systemic method contributed to the identification of the internal mechanisms of the system's functioning and development. The author arrived at the following conclusions. The most important factor in the success of the process under consideration were the practices reflecting the guiding and controlling role of the highest party and state structures (the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Party and the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers). The development of the process was influenced by the state's foreign policy goals. The practices for commissioning fields and constructing pipeline systems were characterized by balanced decision-making, relying on leading research institutes of the gas industry, and based on the application of the latest Soviet technological developments. Alongside directly production tasks, tasks related to creating support sectors (in energy, construction, the construction industry, etc.) and building cities and towns were also solved. Throughout the 1960s-1980s, a large-scale process of forming a gas industry was carried out in the land-based part of the Soviet (Russian) Arctic, as well as for the first time in the history of the world Arctic. The accumulated experience was unique. Capabilities for incredibly high rates of gas production were created. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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