Report - UNDP Russia

oil pipeline monopolist) and its affiliatedcompanies is 48,700 km (as of June 2006).The threat of pollution exists at everystage of oil production, from geologicalsurveying to field construction, accidents atconstruction sites, and during fielddevelopment and transportation of crude oil.Pollution of drinking water sources byhydrocarbons poses a particularly seriousthreat to public health: if an oil well ‘drowns’,due to bad sealing or for other reasons, oil canpenetrate water horizons used for drinking orbathing. Oil products have already beendiscovered in fresh water at the Samotlor oilfield at depths of 180-200 meters, threateningthe water supply for the city ofNizhnevartovsk 5,6 , and the Voy-Vozh oil field hasbeen found to affect quality of drinking waterin underground water sources used for needsof the nearby town (oil products and phenolswere detected) 7 .Many pipelines are in a poor state ofrepair. More than 38% of crude oil pipelines and47% of oil product pipelines have been inoperation for over 30 years, and a further 75%and 80%, respectively, are over 20 years old 8 .Data published 11 years ago showed 40,000accidents at fields in Western Siberia alone 9 andit is natural to suppose that number ofaccidents will have risen as output levelsincreased in recent years. Oil field developmentin Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District haspolluted 70-80,000 hectares of land 10 , and theVozeysky oil pipeline accident in the KomiRepublic caused pollution over 60 km 2 . Largequantities of hydrocarbons may havepenetrated sources of drinking water as a resultof these accidents.It is almost impossible to findinformation regarding spillages on internetsites of oil companies, but media reportssuggest numerous accidents involving oilpipelines. There are reports of average 1900accidents each year at oil fields in Khanty-MansiAutonomous District 11 where principal aquifershave been polluted by constant leakages 12 . Theshare of water samples in the District, which failto meet sanitary norms, is as high as 53% 13 . Thesituation is comparable in Tomsk Region, wherepipe corrosion and intensified development ofoil fields have led to a spate of pipelineaccidents. Soil and ground water are pollutedby oil products and highly mineralized water;samples from northern rivers in Tomsk Region,where oil field development is concentrated,show levels of oil products and phenolexceeding maximal allowable concentration aswell as presence of hydrogen sulfide andmethane 14 . These toxins may also be present indrinking water. Until recently pollution ofdrinking water by oil products was not viewedby the medical community as a serious threatto health, but more detailed study has revealeda threat from strata water, which is also carriedin oil pipelines, and consists of a mixture ofcalcium-chloride mineralized water with5N.Ya,Krupinin, On environmental conditions in Nizhnevartovsk Region//Ways and means of reaching a balanced environmental andecological development in oil producing regions of Western Siberia // NDI works, Vol.1, Nizhnevartovsk, 1995, pp22-29.6I.V.Korabelnikov, A.I.Korabelnikov, Ecological and sanitary aspects of oil field drowning during oil extraction // Newsletter of the StPetersburg State Medical Academy -2005 – No.1(6) pp.83-85.7State Report: On environmental conditions in the Komi Republic in 2000, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the KomiRepublic, RGUN-TSARIKS RK, Syktyvkar, 2001, p.1958V.V.Bushuyev, A.A.Troitskiy, Russia’s Power Strategy up to 2020 and reality. What next?, Teploenergetika, 2007, No.1, pp/2-8.9N.M.Davydenko, Environmental problems of Russia's Northern oil & gas producing regions, Novosibirsk, Nauka, Siberian establishmentsof the Russian Academy of Science, 1998, p.22410A.P.Sadov, P.P.Krechetov, S.S.Varuschenko, Environmental problems of hydorbarbon extraction enterprises // Environmental andindustrial security, 2008, No.12, pp.116-119.11Digest: Environment of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District – Yugra, in 2003, Khanty-Mansiisk, 200412T.Ya.Kochina, G.I.Kushnikova, Pollution of geological environment with oil products - Environmental and medical impact // Hygieneand Sanitation, 2008, No.4, pp.23-2613N.G.Kashapov, A.A.Kazachikhin, Hygienic assessment of water procurement in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District – Yugra//Hygiene and Sanitation, 2008, No.5, pp.32-3414Environmental Monitoring. Environmental situation in the Tomsk Region in 2007, / Department of Natural Resources andEnvironmental Protection of Tomsk Region, OGU Oblcompriroda, Tomsk, Graphika, 2008, p.2476 National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009