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Gazprom lays on luxury lifestyle for workers in the far north
By Adele Brard
AFP
NOVY URENGOI, Russia
Petroleumworld.com 07 02 06
When Galina Sherban first arrived in this bleak Arctic spot 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) north of Moscow 20 years ago it was a cluster of spartan barracks housing pioneers of the Soviet gas industry.
Now, 30 years after the discovery of one of the biggest natural gas fields in the world, this community inside the Arctic Circle has mushroomed into the home of 100,000 people, an industrial elite enjoying earnings and social benefits greatly superior to those elsewhere in Russia.
And the dominating name in town is that of the Russian energy giant Gazprom.
This is a company town of the Russian far north. Sports stadiums, culture palaces, hospitals, roads, electricity, heating and the water supply -- not to forget 14 nursery schools -- are among facilities operated by UrengoiGazprom, Gazprom's local subsidiary.
The company spends copiously on cushioning life for employees in these harsh climes in the very north of Siberia.
Whether it's wages five times the national average, vacation time twice as long as normal, health spas for the family down south on the sunny shores of the Black Sea, or golden parachutes on retirement, Gazprom doesn't stint.
In fact, workers here enjoy privileges harking back to those once used to tempt Soviet workers out to live in extreme Siberian conditions during the communist period with its elaborate social benefits.
"Nothing has changed here since the collapse of the USSR," said Galina, comfortably ensconced in the bar of a company health centre. "It's incredible. We haven't lost any of our old social benefits."
But there is a price to be paid. The Arctic climate with its long winter nights is known to age people prematurely.
Ludmilla, a nurse at the health therapy centre, says "poliarniki" ("polar people") can age by as much as 18 months for every year they live here.
Gazprom's generosity to its 18,000 employees here is seen by staff as evidence of its great wealth. Rumours of a future reduction by more than a third of the overall 300,000 employed by Gazprom nationwide do not worry them here unduly.
"It doesn't concern us, we're much too important," said Yana Sukhushina, editor of the company television station Gazprom-Urengoi TV.
The first gas treatment plant was put into operation here in 1978 and some 2,500 gas wells have been drilled in the Urengoi field. Urengoigazprom now boasts it is one of the worlds leading companies in production and treatment of hydrocarbons.
But all is not as it seems for the parent company.
Analysts warn that the true business state of Gazprom, in which the Russian government has a 51 percent stake, is different from the picture usually painted and, like workers' benefits here, harks back to the days of the state-run Soviet industry.
"What has mainly changed is its image," said Chris Weafer of Alfa Bank. "In reality Gazprom's operation is run on its original Soviet basis."
Company costs are considered too high. Its pipelines are two to three times dearer than they would be in North America and till last year employees' earnings grew faster than profit margins, according to Moscow analysts Hermitage Capital.
But the heir to the Soviet Ministry of Gas of yesteryear has its hands tied, says Weafer. "The social benefits are provided for political reasons. The government doesn't want to bear the cost."
Gazprom's interests extend beyond gas and oil to stakes in an airline, in television, fashion houses, a soccer club -- even poultry farms.
But the International Energy Agency is concerned at the lack of Gazprom investment in new gas fields such as that on the neighbouring Yamal Peninsula, one of the most promising gas-bearing regions in western Siberia.
It is admittedly yet more intractable territory. But on the other hand fields such as that here at Urengoi are already in decline.
Without new investments, gas supplies could begin to run short from 2010, warns the Agency. And that could be a worry for western European countries which import a quarter of their natural gas supplies from Russia.
Meanwhile Galina and colleagues look forward to their summer break on the Black Sea in a special company health centre, described on its website as offering "great recreation, various health improvement facilities, interesting excursions, high-class comfort of four-star level, great service."
AFP 02 1208 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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