Lives on the Move: Vakhtoviki in north-western Siberia

Who are the people behind the extraction processes of crude oil and natural gas in the Russian Federation? This question is rarely asked although over 70 per cent of all Russian natural gas is exported to the EU and nearly 90 per cent of all Austrian imports from the Russian Federation (RF) is made up of these fossil energy sources. In Austria the structures of the hydrocarbon industry in the RF are primarily approached from a macro-level perspective by the economic and political sciences. However, accounts from the social sciences of micro-level conditions in the resource rich territories and the involved population are still missing. Therefore, this research project is of high scientific relevance to a bottom up view on the complex interrelation of natural resources, power structures, and social-spatial peculiarities in north-western Siberia, where the most important oil and gas deposits of the RF are located. The long-distance commute workers (LDC), known as Vakhtoviki, have become an increasingly important work force due to the fact that hydrocarbon extraction sites are continuously shifting northwards beyond the polar circle and further away from northern urban settlements. LDC lead a life on the move, characterised by a circular presence at and absence from home, subordination to strict company-regimes in closed work camps, and long journeys to and from work sites. Whereas inter-regional LDC from southern and central parts of the RF make journeys of up to several thousand kilometres, the intra-regional LDC are permanent residents of base towns near oil and gas-fields, but may still commute over several hundreds of kilometres. Both groups work on shift rosters, i.e. 30, 45 or 60 days on shift with 30 days of recreation. Their lives are shaped by three meaningful spaces Home Journey on Duty which are the prime foci of this research. Understanding the coping strategies, motivation for and objection to LDC is a crucial basis for perspectives on labour potentials in a sector where demand for highly skilled workers is enormous. The core aim of this interdisciplinary endeavour by Social Geography and Social Anthropology is to explore from a micro-level and qualitative empirical perspective the itinerant lifestyles and the socialspatial impacts of the LDC, which are closely related to inequality structures. A relational social-spatial theoretical approach allows us to interlink the material, physical and socio-economically characterised spatial structure with agency and responses by the group under study. As research on LDC in the RF is still a fairly blank spot on the international scientific landscape, this project is particularly relevant. Entirely new contributions are obtained via a mobile and multi-sited setting that comprises long-term field research at the work and the home regions, while also accompanying the workers on commuter trains during their long journeys. By representing results in the form of a thick description we expect extensive exemplification of theoretical assumptions and the contribution of comprehensive insights into the manifold features of the lives of the Vakhtoviki to contemporary LDC-, migration-, post-socialist- and circumpolar studies

Who are the people behind the extraction processes of crude oil and natural gas in the Russian Federation? This question is rarely asked although over 70 per cent of all Russian natural gas is exported to the EU and nearly 90 per cent of all Austrian imports from the Russian Federation (RF) are made up of these fossil energy sources. The structures of the hydrocarbon industry in the RF are primarily approached from a macro-level perspective by economic and political sciences. Accounts from the social sciences of micro-level conditions in the resource rich territories and the involved population are still missing. Labour force provision in remote and climatically harsh regions around the polar circle has been a major issue in the creation of a successful energy sector since the Soviet Union era onwards. Today extraction sites of hydrocarbon resources in Russia continuously shift northwards and arctic off-shore deposits are being prospected. Although in the Russian Far North the number of urban settlements (such as Vorkuta and Novy Urengoy) exceeds that of other sub-arctic regions, the growing labour demand is met only through long-distance commuters (LDC); i.e. rotational shift work (also called fly-in/fly-out [FIFO]). They lead a life on the move, characterised by a circular presence at and absence from home, subordination to strict company-regimes in closed work camps, and long journeys to and from work sites. Inter-regional LDC from southern and central parts of the Russian Federation (such as the Republics of Bashkortostan and Chuvashia) make journeys of up to several thousand kilometres by train (which may take a few days one way) or by aeroplane. Intra-regional LDC are permanent residents of base towns near oil and gas-fields, but may still commute over several hundreds of kilometres. Both groups work on shift rosters, i.e. 30, 45 or 60 days on shift with 30 days of recreation. Understanding coping strategies, motivation for and objection to LDC is a crucial basis for perspectives on labour potentials in a sector where demand for highly skilled workers is enormous and at the same time working conditions throughout involved companies differ to a great extent. This project drawing on disciplines such as geography, anthropology and history is of high scientific relevance to a bottom up view on the complex interrelation of natural resources, power structures, and social-spatial and temporal peculiarities. With a qualitative and quantitative methodology this project interlinks sending and host regions as well as the space of the journey which is a unique approach in this field of study. This allows to understand social spatial entanglements and political processes of the development of the urban Russian Far North as well as effects of LDC on social configurations and socio-economic development in southern rural sending regions. Numerous publications in Russian, English and German cannot only serve post-socialist, arctic, mobility and multi-locality, labour and Russian studies but may also inform the industry, labour unions and political decision makers. In an international dialogue Lives on the Move could unearth similarities and differences of LDC practiced in neo-liberal countries (such as Canada and Australia) and in Russia that is shaped by a re-socialist (instead of a post-socialist) but at the same time neo-liberal attitude towards the petroleum industry in Russia.