Yamal Peninsula in Northern Russia.

The Yamal Peninsula in Northern Russia. Map design - John Prusinski

The Yamal Peninsula (Russian: полуо́стров Яма́л), located in Yamal-Nenets autonomous district of northwest Siberia, Russia, extends roughly 700 km (435 mi) and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea, Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east. In the language of its indigenous inhabitants, the Nenets, "Yamal" means "End of the World".

The peninsula consists mostly of permafrost ground and is geologically a very young place —some areas are less than ten thousand years old

Barents Observer | TNK-BP goes for Yamal oil

2009-10-09

The board of the oil company TNK-BP has approved a USD 400 million investment plan at three oil fields at the Yamal Peninsula.

The investment is for the initial phase of the exploration and construction of the Suzun, Tagul and Russkoye fields at Yamal, reports Dow Jones Newswire. The initial phase includes early production activities.

TNK.BP is a joint venture between British BP and a group of Russian investors. The company is Russia’s third biggest oil producer.

Background information

The Yamal Peninsula has seen the discovery of 11 gas and 15 oil and gas condensate fields. The aggregate reserves of Yamal’s largest fields - the Bovanenkovo, Kharasavey and Novoportovskoye fields. These account for 5,9 tcm of gas, 100.2 mln t of condensate and 227 mln t of oil.

The fields are 100-percent owned by Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom dobycha Nadym.

The Bovanenkovo field is planned to be in production in year 2011. The field will be linked with a western-bound pipeline. In addition south-bound railway line is to be connected to the field.

The Yamal Peninsula, located in Yamal-Nenets autonomous district of northwest Siberia, extends roughly 700 km and is bordered principally by the Kara Sea, Baydaratskaya Bay on the west, and by the Gulf of Ob on the east.

The peninsula is the place where traditional large-scale nomadic reindeer husbandry is best preserved in Russia. On the peninsula, several thousand Nenets and Khanty reindeer herders hold about 500,000 domestic reindeer.

A herd of deer grazes on pasture ground on the Yamal peninsula, north of the Arctic circle Picture: REUTERS

Baby mammoth unearthed in Yamal is 37,000 years old - scientists

Ice Baby — National Geographic Magazine, May 2009

A Nenets boy tentatively examines Lyuba outside Shemanovsky Museum in Salekhard, Siberia. Some of his elders still hold to the Nenets tradition that touching a mammoth, a creature they believe roams the spirit underworld, will bring bad luck.