OREANDA-NEWS. October 12, 2011. The Impact of Oil and Gas Facilities on Forest Formation Processes in Western Siberia was the topic of discussion for the participants of the International Research and Training Conference held on 4-6 October in Surgut and hosted by OJSC “Surgutneftegas”.

The participants noted significant landscape changes during field facilities construction and operation of oil and gas fields in Western Siberia. However, some of these changes actually facilitate forest formation: for example, good progress in forest formation can be seen on man-made dikes and sludge pits recultivated without backfilling using the forest recultivation technology of OJSC “Surgutneftegas”. Forests that grow on disturbed lands are more productive than base forests growing on wetlands. Self-organized vegetation reduces the area of disturbed lands and mitigates their adverse impact on the environment.

Since there is no national regulatory environment, the conference participants resolved to:

1. Propose to the Russian government to authorize the Federal Forestry Agency

to develop and implement the national policy and regulatory environment for recultivation of disturbed forest lands in the Russian Federation; prepare a regulatory document to establish the procedure for recultivation of disturbed lands; consider the possibility to delegate some regulatory control powers with regard to recultivation of disturbed forest lands in the Russian Federation to authorities of the constituent entities in order to take into account natural and climatic conditions and specific features of area disturbed by the man-made impact.

2. Continue inventory of disturbed and recultivated areas; evaluate the results of disturbed land recultivation; improve recultivation technology with due consideration for natural and climatic conditions and specific features of disturbed areas in order to increase recultivation efficiency; form a working group to summarize and develop solutions and other steps to increase efficiency of disturbed land recultivation.

The conference initiated by the Government of Yugra and Surgutneftegas was attended by prominent scientists in the sphere of reforestation and land recultivation, representatives of federal, regional, and territorial authorities in charge of forest management and state environmental control, and representatives of non-governmental ecological organizations. The conference was also attended by experts from major Russian oil companies, employees of specialized institutes, companies, and organizations, and foreign experts. The participants discussed the impact on forest resources, forest land recultivation methods, and the need to update the regulatory framework for forest and soil conservation. In addition, the participants visited Surgutneftegas’ fields and examined the areas of recultivated lands earlier disturbed by the man-made impact.

As of 1 January 2011, Surgutneftegas had 175 ha of lands previously contaminated by oil, including 106 ha recultivated and inspected by now by the territorial authority of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage. In 2012, Surgutneftegas will recultivate all oil contaminated lands. Every year, the company recultivates and transfers to the Forest Fund of the Russian Federation almost 1,500 ha of lands disturbed by field facilities construction.

In recent years, Surgutneftegas has been annually investing more than RUB 20 bn in environmental protection in the oil production sector. This money is used to prevent pipeline accidents, protect and restore water resources, and protect the atmosphere and lands.