Sustainable development in the Arctic: petroleum industry in the Norwegian and Russian high north

• Main Author: Prachakova, Alesia
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2016
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.8751; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/263409

This dissertation presents a study of opportunities and challenges for sustainable natural resource development in the Arctic. The central focus of the dissertation is to explore the similarities and differences in corporate representations of oil and gas development in the Norwegian and Russian parts of the Arctic. Grounded in the idea that sustainable development combines environmental and socio-economic issues, the dissertation explores whether (if at all) and how companies incorporate sustainability in their present practices of natural resource management in the context of their projects in the Norwegian and Russian High North. In the dissertation I shall argue that with the decline in existing oil fields outside the Arctic and despite plummeting crude oil prices, companies are constantly looking for new oil and gas provinces. The emphasis on the importance of the Arctic hydrocarbon resources for future energy security has been regularly used in corporate rhetoric about sustainable energy, thus supporting the Arctic petroleum paradigm. At the same time, a number of proposed Arctic projects are opposed by civil society, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities. In recognition of increasing public scrutiny, oil and gas companies aim to describe their role in regions they operate in as good corporate neighbours and corporate sustainability reporting has emerged as a tool used by companies to communicate their responses to environmental and social challenges inherent in their core business operations. The case study of a section of companies operating in the Norwegian and Russian Arctic region can serve as a basis for qualitative analysis of various issues that are central in company-stakeholder dialogues over the future of the region in the states with strong governance and control over the national oil industries. As such, the Norwegian and Russian High North provide a good testing ground for how companies present and discuss the main challenges inherent in their Arctic oil and gas operations.