Map of Yamal-Nenets

Geography

The West Siberian petroleum basin is the largest hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) basin in the world covering an area of about 2.2 million km2, and is also the largest oil and gas producing region in Russia.

The Nenets people are an indigenous tribe who have long survived in this region. Their prehistoric life involved subsistence hunting and gathering, including the taking of polar bears; the practice of hunting polar bears (Ursus maritimus) continues up to the present time.

Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude, that is, at the point 70°N and 70°E, with equal degrees. The Polar Urals rise in the western part and the highest point of the okrug, as well as of the whole Ural mountain system, is Mount Payer.

Economy

In 2009, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug was Russia's most important source of natural gas, with more than 90% of Russia's natural gas being produced there. The region also accounted for 12% of Russia's oil production. The region is the most important to Russia's largest company Gazprom, whose main production fields are located there. Novatek – the country's second-largest gas producer – is also active in the region, with its headquarters located in Tarko-Sale. According to Novatek on 22 October 2019, the natural gas reserves in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug represent 80% of Russia's natural gas and 15% of the world's natural gas supply.

Since the early 2010s, Gazprom has been developing Yamal project in the Yamal Peninsula area.

Demographics

Population: 510,490 (2021 census); 522,904 (2010 census); 507,006 (2002 census); 486,164 (1989 Soviet census).

From 1960 to 2016, Yamal Nenets population increased from 60 000 people to more than 530 000 due to the natural resources discovered in the region. Currently, Yamal Nenets is the only Arctic Region in the Russian Federation that is not experiencing population decline. Despite the growing pressure on the regional environment, former governor Dmitry Kobylkin assured in 2016 that industrial developments are not affecting the traditional lifestyles of the native population. Official data accounts for an increment of 11 percent of the indigenous population from 2006 to 2016.