AT First Minister's Questions in Holyrood today there was rare equanimity, with all parties united in condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Equally there was universal agreement about the pressing need for Scotland, the rest of the UK, and Europe to achieve energy security and as quickly as possible to halt the importation of oil and gas from Russia.
However, there was far less agreement about the steps that must be taken in the short term to both reduce dependency on the Russian oil and gas exports, the proceeds from which Vladimir Putin relies upon to fund his militaristic aggression, and mitigate the recent sharp rises in energy costs which fall most heavily on the poorest families. Those costs are likely to rise even further due to the shock to the energy markets created by the international embargo on Russian oil and gas.
Russia has vast reserves of oil and gas, much of which come from fields in Western Siberia and the Arctic north. The exploitation of these reserves has almost destroyed the culture and traditional lifestyles of the indigenous Khanty, Mansi, Selkup, and Komi peoples, disrupting their hunting grounds and the migration routes of the reindeer herds upon which they once depended. It has reduced them to a small minority in their own traditional lands.
Half of Russia's oil is produced in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District of Siberia, but the lucrative industry has meant nothing but trouble for the region's indigenous people. Members of the Khanty minority have seen forests disappear and food supplies for their reindeer dry up as oil companies move deeper into the land they rely on. The Khanty and the Mansi have also seen their sacred sites desecrated in the rush to extract as much oil as possible.
Russian oil and gas extraction has appalling environmental consequences, with one report from 2021 detailing a major oil leak in the Komi Republic which was the biggest oil spill ever recorded on land. Research revealed that multiple breaches in old Soviet pipelines had been leaking for eight months.
However, the authorities had kept this hidden from the public until an oil slick 15cm deep reached the Pechora river, an important source of fish for local Komi people, and the problem could no longer be kept a secret. Estimates of the oil spilled range from 100,000 to 200,000 tons. Farming and fishing communities affected by the disaster were left to clean up as best they could and received compensation of just 36 rubles per head - about £5 before the recent collapse in the value of the Russian currency.
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Russian oil and gas exploitation is carried out with little concern for the environment or for the indigenous peoples on whose land the oil and gas fields are located. According to the Russian Ministry of Energy, there were over 17,000 oil leaks in 2019, mostly from pipelines. The Russian government's own data suggests that an oil spill is happening somewhere in Russia almost every half hour. By comparison, the US recorded 137 spills in 2018. In Canada, where climate conditions at oil wells are similar to those in Russia, only 60 events with oil releases were documented in 2019.
Reducing the West's dependency on Russian energy would not just deprive Putin of the income he needs to fund his military, it would also discourage one of the most polluting and environmentally damaging fossil fuel extraction industries in the world.
Thanks mainly to Scotland's oil and gas resources, UK is less dependent on imported Russian oil and gas than other European states, however the embargo on Russian supplies will nevertheless have an impact on the British domestic energy market. Just 3% of Scotland’s gas and 8% of oil and petroleum come from Russia.
At FMQs today, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross pressed the Scottish Government to ramp up production of oil and gas from the North Sea in order to make up the shortfall and to increase the amount available for export, which was interesting given that Douglas and his party are very keen to tell people in Scotland that the oil is about to run out whenever the topic of Scottish independence raises its head.
The First Minister rejected Ross's demand, pointing out that existing oil and gas fields in the North Sea are already producing at capacity, and that new fields such as Cambo will not be able to come on stream until 2026 at the earliest. It is therefore not a solution to the current pressing need for energy security and abstaining from Russian oil and gas supplies.
READ MORE: Russian Embassy uses bizarre Scottish independence analogy to justify Ukraine invasion
The First Minister said that the present crisis merely reinforces the urgency of a transition away from oil and gas to renewables and urged the UK Government to use its borrowing powers to intervene and mitigate the effect of fuel bill rises on domestic consumers.
The solution to destructive oil and gas isn't more oil and gas, it is to redouble our efforts to make a rapid and just transition to a carbon neutral economy. It's not just Ukraine which is being wrecked by Putin, it is also the indigenous communities of Siberia and the Russian Arctic.
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