Impacts on Indigenous communities in the Arctic region Rosneft’s Vostok Oil project in the Arctic is expected to pose serious danger to the Dolgan Indigenous community. The massive oil project, which includes the construction of 15 towns, a port, two airports and 800 km of pipelines, threatens the livelihoods of the Dolgan people inhabiting the project areas. 

The Dolgan peoples have retained a nomadic way of life and most of them are reindeer herders. As the Vostok Oil project develops across the Arctic tundra in the Taymyr Peninsula, the usual migration routes of Dolgans and their reindeer will be disrupted, thus damaging their traditional lifestyle and culture. 

Additionally, the planned construction of a huge port to favour oil exportation will have an adverse impact on fish upstream migration paths. This puts in danger the livelihoods and traditions of local fishing communities.

Rosneft’s involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine Rosneft is the second-largest state-owned company and the largest taxpayer in Russia. In November 2022, the company announced the payment of dividends on its nine-month results, which is expected to boost Russia’s budget by a further US$ 3.6 billion. As a result, Rosneft contributes to Russia’s ability to finance the war and to perpetrate war crimes in Ukraine. In addition, Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, and the second most important person in Russia.

Rosneft fuel linked to war crimes in Myanmar A report by Amnesty International found international oil companies, including Rosneft, to be linked to ongoing war crimes in Myanmar through their supply of aviation fuel to the military junta. According to Amnesty, the fuel supplied has been used in air raids against civilians, targeting hospitals, schools, and homes. 

While the IEA’s Net Zero by 2050 Roadmap (2021) clearly states that in order to achieve the goal set in the Paris Agreement to limit global heating within 1.5°C no new gas and oil fields should be developed, fossil fuel majors’ plans go in the opposite direction. 

Rosneft ranks among the top companies whose short and long-term plans to expand and exploit new gas and oil are the most incompatible with the Paris Agreement goals. The company’s Vostok Oil project alone is estimated to produce up to 100 million tonnes of oil annually by 2030.

As shown by Climate Action 100+ March 2022 Assessment, Rosneft falls short from implementing adequate corporate policies to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement and of Climate Action 100+ and overall fails to significantly improve its climate change-related performance. 

Oil spills Greenpeace Russia estimated that Rosneft is among the worst polluters in the Arctic, with some of the most catastrophic oil spills linked to its subsidiaries. For instance, in 2016, Rosneft caused a spill from an unused pipeline on the Pacific island of Sakhalin that resulted in the release of approximately 15 tons (110 barrels) of oil. In 2021 Bashneft, a regional subsidiary of the company was found responsible for a major oil leak in the Bizhbulyaksky district in the Bashkiria region. It was reported that around 300 cubic metres of oily water were spilled, polluting 350 square metres of soil. In the same year, Irkutsknefteprodukt, another subsidiary of Rosneft, was credited with causing an oil spill into the Lena River which was due to a malfunction on a tanker. Up to 100 litres of oil products got into the water of the river. 

Rosneft has allegedly caused more than $8 billion in environmental damage from illegal waste dumps in the Khanty-Mansi region. The oil company disposes of millions of tons of contaminated drilling waste, a practice that is wreaking environmental havoc by polluting northern rivers that drain into the Arctic Ocean.

Additionally, the Vostok oil field, currently under development, has been vehemently criticised by environmentalists because of its partial encroachment on protected nature reserves and because of the heightened risk of oil spills in the fragile Arctic ecosystem. 

• The list of EU sanctions in place against Russia is available here.
• The list of  US sanctions in place against Russia is available here.