Sabbat Yamal. Why does Sabetta have an Italian name and how to get there? Delivery of cargo to the port of sabetta

And here I was recently drifted beyond the Arctic Circle, to the village of Sabetta, which is located on the eastern coast of the Yamal Peninsula near the Gulf of Ob of the Kara Sea. A couple of years ago, there was practically nothing at this place, but now a modern airport has already been built, with an official status of "International", a year-round seaport is operating, the necessary infrastructure has been created, and these are: housing, roads, etc. At the moment, more than 15 thousand people work in Sabetta. And this is all thanks to the largest and unique project of our time, the Yamal LNG plant for liquefied natural gas. Well, let's see how everything works here?

2. Fly to Sabetta from Moscow about 4 hours

3. I fly for the first time "Gazprom avia", and they are already greeted royally, and this is not yet hot.

4. By the way, I would like to express my gratitude to Gazprom Avia and the entire crew of GZP 9643 for an excellent, comfortable flight and attention, 8 hours (there and back) passed with you unnoticed.

5. And this is Sabetta International Airport

6. Sabetta International Airport is one of the largest northern airports in the world. It is capable of receiving almost all types of aircraft. The airport complex includes an airfield that meets the requirements of ICAO category I, a runway with dimensions of 2704x46 m, hangars for aircraft, a service and passenger building, including the international sector. The 100% owner of the airport is actually Yamal LNG.

7. The first passenger aircraft Boeing 737 of UTair airlines landed at the airport on December 4, 2014, but it was still the first test flight. Regular flights began to operate from February 2, 2015. The next important date in the history of the airport was July 29, 2015, on this day, by the order of the Government of the Russian Federation, the airport was opened for international flights and a cargo-passenger checkpoint across the state border was installed in it. At the moment, a permanent passenger air service has been organized with the cities of Novy Urengoy and Moscow; in the future, the route network should expand. Now the average passenger traffic is about 150 thousand people a year, but when the Yamal LNG project requires more participation, the airport is ready to serve 300 thousand people.

9. Divide into groups and go to the village on shifts

10. The name of the village Sabetta was given by the geologists of the Tambeyskaya OGRE, who came here in the 80s of the last century. There are several versions of why exactly Sabetta. According to one of them, the name of the village comes from the name of the Sovetskaya trading post, which existed here, converted into the Nenets language. According to another version, it comes from the name of the local Samoyed family who lived in the area - the Sabe clan. The third version is that Sabetta is the name of a woman's headdress (in the Nenets language).

11. At first glance, given the climatic and natural conditions, the village looks very dignified. All conditions have been created here for the builders and future workers of the plant. Several canteens are already working, there is a hotel, a first-aid post, a bathhouse, a sports complex, a laundry, a number of administrative buildings, there is a boiler room, sewerage and water treatment facilities, food storage facilities, a fire station, a warm parking lot, etc.

15. And here is the headquarters of the future plant, but I'll tell you about it next time. To be continued...

Many thanks to the entire press service of OAO NOVATEK and personally to Dukhanina Larisa for organizing my visit.

All our Yamal LNG history:

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You cannot buy tickets for the Moscow - Sabetta flight: they are taken there only according to lists and a passport. There are simply no other options, so there are no random people either. Red Wings were taking there, Yamal was back. I checked in for the flight last, which resulted in a nice bonus, but more on that later. It was unusual to see only adults in the boarding line - sober, calm, no jokes or jokes. Everyone knows where and, most importantly, why they are flying. No crazy mothers, no wild breeders. A stark contrast to the "resort" flights.

The only joke was when a lumpy man who had to go to Simferopol jumped up to us and almost flew with us to Yamal. We slightly kept the intrigue, but nevertheless admitted that Sabetta is not a resort, although it is also on the peninsula. He still managed to get on his plane.

Main square of Sabetta

The captain of the aircraft announced that the airport in Sabetta was congested and it was necessary to wait a bit. Okay, wait. And we are waiting, and we are waiting ... Finally we were towed, the pilot fired up the engines and drove off himself, but at every intersection he stood and let everyone pass!

The food was delicious in flight - I did not even expect this from the actual rotational transport. And the bonus is that although I was sitting at the end of the plane, I was alone in three seats. I thought I’d take a nap, but it was so beautiful behind the window that I didn’t stick to it. And it was also convenient to eat.

We arrived in Sabetta. Everything here was, on the one hand, simpler than at Domodedovo, and on the other, more complicated. Already no frills, such as a bus from the plane to the building, but you need to wait a long time for luggage and it is inspected for alcohol. They really look at the conscience. If something raises questions, you need to open the bag and show it, no matter how tightly packed the things. Refused - prepare a 50 thousand fine.

Nobody refuses. Alcohol in Sabetta, in villages and throughout the South Tambeysky license area (UTLU), including the LNG plant, is under a complete, absolute and total ban. Even in the church, Cahors do not receive communion. The temple, by the way, is blissful. I decided to go there on arrival - I got to a feast. We sat, talked, told different stories. I met people, again.

Temple in the middle of Sabetta.

In general, there are many prohibitions, but they are understandable. If you don't understand something yourself, they will explain it during the briefing. Explained in simple language. For example, you cannot interact with the local fauna. If a polar bear, then it is clear that he will tear you apart purely out of curiosity, even if not hungry. If an arctic fox, then it is not known what is on his mind, plus it is quite possible rabies. I have not seen polar bears here, I will not lie, but arctic foxes run through the garbage dumps, like cats in cities, and the bravest ones beg people for yummy.

Smoking is allowed only in designated places - outside in ventilated iron sheds. Security monitors the order at UTLU, and the OVD controls the law and order.

For violation of the rules - either a sensitive (five-six-figure) fine, or deportation. Although there are violations with six signs, but without deportation. For example, a booze. Since the drowning here is brutal, then putting the mash is like two fingers. They will feel you drunk - and you yourself will owe money, and your office, moreover, twice as much, but they will not send you home. Eat, they say, further, bring us the loot. But deportation means that the deported will never again - not the next time, not from another office - will be able to come here. The only way to come here again is to change your passport. There are people who, for one reason or another, do not drink, who in Sabetta are like fish in water. There are people who specially come here on duty as for rehabilitation with occupational therapy - because they are unable to stop drinking on their own.

One of the streets of Sabetta. In fact, there are no streets as such - there are only dorm rooms, between which there are passages. All communications are laid on the surface: after all, it is permafrost.

More about fines. Turning on the heating in the room so that it does not fry so much - to get to 30 thousand. To be at the factory without work clothes - minus five percent of the salary for each time. Lack of personal protective equipment (helmets and goggles) - differently, depending on the area where you were caught without them. Lack of insurance when working at height - again, deportation.

About the weather. You come from Moscow to the Arctic - you think, kick-ass! The next day the temperature drops to -3, you think: now it's a kick-ass. The next day, the wind rises from the Arctic Ocean (and I must say that Yamal is practically flat and nothing prevents the wind from blowing), you think: now it's definitely a kick-ass! The next day the sun comes out, the wind does not stop, the temperature drops still, you think: well, okay. The next day it is just as cold, but the wind stops blowing, fog comes from the ocean, and you think: in the heat!

Sunrise on Sabetta.

The wind, if there is one, turns the cigarette out of the mouth (because of this, the habit of holding a cigarette with your teeth quickly develops), blows through the zipped zippers on the clothes, and if something from the clothes is not buttoned, there is an opportunity to lose. The habit of buttoning up appears instantly. The wind can really blow off a helmet from the head or a yellow vest from the body. At first it is surprising that all the ladders, even if they are two or three steps, are equipped with handrails, but when the wind rises, you understand that this is a necessary thing.

In Sabetta, as I said, there is a police station and a first-aid post. The fire department is located at the factory, where firefighters drive. With the strictness of the Sabetta rules, a fire in the village is unlikely, but at a plant for the production of liquefied natural gas it is quite natural to be insured. In two weeks I saw the police only once, but ambulances go by. The main function of medicine here is to heal cuts and abrasions and to keep the rabies vaccine ready. If someone is seriously ill, give a certificate, on the basis of which the person goes home ahead of time, so that he does not spread the infection and does not parasitize. No simulation is required: in the first-aid post, they ask directly: "Do you want to go home?" - and, if you want, - a tablecloth road.

In general, it is quite possible to yearn there if you treat these shifts and business trips as exile and hard labor, and not as an adventure. The people, who are weaker, go crazy - it is easier for doctors to send home a yearned person than to fix and isolate someone who has already “gone”.

The usual landscape. Wires and drilling - there is nothing more to catch the eye.

At UTLU, everything has been done to ensure that people who come there work and do not fool around with everyday questions: what and how to eat, how to sleep, where to wash and how to maintain hygiene. Literally all questions are closed. I wrote about heating. In dormitories on each floor there are rooms with washing machines and dryers. On the ground floor there is a separate warm clothes dryer. Room cleaning - every other day. Bed linen and towels are changed once a week.

Each person is entitled to a pass - a plastic card to which money for food is credited every day. Three times a day they feed for slaughter, but even I, with my appetite, without denying myself anything, could not gobble up the entire amount.

About leisure. There is a sports complex with iron and a playground. You need to sign up for hardware in two days. I didn’t swing - I just regimented and fed. On the site you can play any playground games: volleyball, mini-football, badminton and tennis, there are ping-pong tables. Communication with civilization throughout the area is only via satellite. And it is poor for the user: the voice on the phone in Sabetta holds up well, at the factory - with great interruptions (the mobile phone is not really needed there: everyone has walkie-talkies), Internet - only Edge. I saw 3G once, but it quickly fell off. Local network - only in offices, for mail, Internet access is very limited. There is Wi-Fi in some places, but it is strictly password protected. People come with gadgets, watch movies and TV shows and exchange with each other on flash drives fresh.

There are two attractions in Sabetta: the torch of the LNG plant, which can be seen from everywhere, and the temple. I was also impressed by the old buildings of dormitories, in which shift workers and border guards used to live - houses hammered out of planks. There is no one in them now, but they are standing, and this is very expressive. Such a house is quite suitable for a room for a museum of these places. Although the village is young and small, its history is already rich.

One of the old hostels.

It's funny to see how stern and gloomy during the day, guys in the evenings dart through cracks and secluded corners and coo on the phone with family and friends. This is also a powerful contrast: there is life everywhere. And in a village style (in a good sense of the word) couples walking along the streets create a good feeling.

The new building of the hostel. There are many of them in Sabetta - everyone lives there.

In general, there are no random people there. People are different: from all over Russia, plus the French, Indians, Turks, Serbs. The Germans make up the concrete - with German thoroughness. And everyone is really equal.

More about the torch. A torch is a meditative thing. It is really visible from everywhere, and if it is hidden behind buildings, then the whole sky is illuminated by such a flickering red-yellow light. It looks fantastically beautiful: on the nefigovy tower there is a pillar of fire from 20 to 50 meters high, plus sometimes, when something difficult is burning there, black smoke flies.

Several times I had to be next to him. Well, how close. The first 220 meters from it is a sterile zone, where entry is prohibited, and you yourself will not want to go there. But you don't want to because already half a kilometer away from him you can barely hear your neighbor because of the hum and you are really fried. You can warm your hands from a torch like from a fire. You get out of the car and think that spring has come, it's warm: there is no dirt around, there is no snow at all, and you think that you can walk without a hat in one helmet. But the hell was there: as soon as you step into the shade of some structure, you realize that you had to put on a hat, because in the shade it is the most winter, that is, the snow crunches, and your ears the cold curls up into a tube. But already a bummer: you can't take off your helmet. The village of Sabetta is located a few kilometers from the plant, our building was on the last line - and so, there is always a feeling that an airliner is flying over the house, only the source of the noise does not fly away anywhere.

About local traffic rules. I took my driver's license with me and thought that it would be possible to saddle some six-wheeled TRECOL and drive it across the tundra, well, or pop it in a pickup truck on icy roads. Fuck it all: fines for traffic violations are about 10 times higher than "mainland" ones, the speed limit is 50 km / h, and all cars are equipped with GLONASS, you can't hide. Even if you think that no one will notice your violation, the track is constantly being written and checked randomly every few days. Several services, including the traffic police, monitor order on the roads at once, and discipline is held by mutual responsibility. In the tundra, on the "bushes", the opposite is true. There is only one rule: laden transport has the advantage. Point. There are no more rules, go as you want. It looks wild at first, but then you get used to it.

In short, with an optimistic attitude, time on a business trip in Sabetta is perceived as an extreme, but damn interesting vacation.

The material was published on the East Travel Telegram channel with the consent of the author. It publishes stories about the travels of ordinary people to the most beautiful places in Russia and the world: Japan, Jerusalem, Chukotka, Kamchatka, Baikal, Primorye and others.

Against the background of a very real general collapse of everything and everyone, something is still being done in the country. And in the most unexpected places (although, how to say, maybe this is exactly what is expected).
In the Far North, practically on the shores of the Arctic Ocean (along the independent Arctic Ocean), more precisely, on the western coast of the Gulf of Ob, practically at the outlet into the ocean, 650 km north-west of Novy Urengoy, in the tundra and permafrost, literally in a year the newest, ultra-modern airfield was built with a beautiful foreign name Sabetta (after the name of the village of shift workers).
Of course, it was not the state that was building, but the "private" company Novatek (the largest gas producer after Gazprom and its competitor). Supermodern materials and technologies, modular structures of buildings of the terminal and airport services in bright cheerful colors (orange-blue), a web of openwork steel shiny nickel-plated structures, along which pipes and cables are laid. It looks more like a chemical plant than an airport.
The orders are also in the Western manner. The discipline is brutal. Appearance on the airfield without a reflective vest - a fine of 30 thousand, smoking in the wrong place - 30 thousand. Around the video camera, you can not hide. Because of this, I have not yet dared to take a photo of the airport terminal. Suddenly, too, it is impossible, and will be detected? There is no extra money  I'll take a closer look, get comfortable, find out if it's possible, and take a picture.
Moreover, Sabetta has been declared an "alcohol-free territory." And all in an adult way, for real. At the exit from the airport outside at the checkpoint, they inspect the luggage and seize all alcohol, if any. Whether they return later on departure, somehow I did not ask. One of our crews was slightly injured. The flight from N. Urengoy to Sabetta was supposed to take place on December 30 and then immediately to the base, home. We arrived in Sabetta in the afternoon of December 30, planned to quickly unload and go home. And the weather turned bad. In the North, the weather in winter is extremely unstable. There may be CAVOK (Ceiling & Visibility Ok) for days in a row (visibility is more than 10 km, cloud cover is above 1500, ie ideal weather, in Russian meteo-terminology "good") in light wind. Or it may deteriorate for a week in a matter of minutes, or such a wind blows out (as often in Norilsk) that one cannot even think of any flights. As a result, they were stuck in Sabetta for 4 days, until January 3. And this is just a tiny shift camp - there are not even shops, there is not even a normal connection, not to mention the Internet. They are fed on schedule in the canteen. Moreover, all alcohol was withdrawn from them upon leaving. So we met NG dry, near the devil in the middle of nowhere.
The staff proudly describe how the airfield was built. There is also permafrost, the soil is unstable - in winter it hardens like a stone, in summer it melts and "floats". It turns out that the entire area of ​​the airfield - the runway, taxiways, apron, parking areas, and even the road to the camp (a few kilometers around the airfield) - are made using the same technology. The ground is leveled, slabs of 10-15 cm thick Penoplex material are laid on the ground. A sand cushion of 2-3 meters is poured on them, then concrete slabs are laid. Of course, the description is very rough and approximate (on the airfield, the concrete surface is perfectly flat, the joints of the slabs are not felt at all even to the touch with the foot, as if it were a solid fill). Unlike the airfield, the road is far from perfect. Duc-duc-duc at the seams and the road in waves. The driver said that one of the important roads was forced to be remodeled.
The shift camp is not a wretched girder-trailers, as previously shown in reports from the North. Here, too, everything is according to Western standards. The feeling that you are in the scenery of a film about the oilmen of some kind of Alaska or the shift workers of Newfoundland. Straight rows of brightly colored (in the corporate orange-blue) three-story "barracks" - constructor buildings made of "trailers" - residential modules. Piles are driven into the permafrost, frames are mounted on them, then cubes-modules are assembled. Like a children's designer. Inside is amazing heat and sound insulation. No frost (it sometimes drops to -50) and the wind (which is constant here) is not terrible. Double rooms. There is a shared kitchen per floor. The room has a TV, running water, sewerage, central heating. Draconian penalties for any violation. The standard tax is 30 thousand. For smoking in the wrong place (in fairness, the smoking room is allocated - an iron container without one wall on the street between houses). For the closed tap of the heating battery. The entire village is entangled in pipes. The pipes are high enough above the ground, but you cannot walk under them - fine. Around the camera. It is imperative to cross them through staircases. To get from our "hostel No. ..." (as the houses are officially called) to the dining room (Catering No. ...), you need to walk around and through 2 staircases, although in a straight line, less than 100 m. But everything goes as expected. The dining room looks like a soldier's. Huge hall. The food is very cheap and tasty. All are paid with special cards. But you can also cash. Oddly enough, I saw many women in working uniform in the queue. Not a canteen employee or a cleaning lady, but a real working class. By the way, I have not seen a single person in a dirty or oily overalls or overalls. All workers are clean, neatly dressed. Western standard has sunk here too.
While driving to the village, the driver said something about the Americans. I became interested. It turned out that Americans are working here with might and main (some kind of Schluberger firm, I cite it by ear). They drill gas. They transmit modern technologies. What sanctions are there ... I was surprised - the airport is not fully open yet, but the border post is already there.
Despite the fact that the airfield is fully equipped with all the necessary radar and navigation aids, and the most modern, it has not yet been fully certified (the procedure is long and dreary. They even received the right to refuel only recently after lengthy heavy-duty approvals and commissions). Therefore, the control tower at the aerodrome is called "Sabetta-information" (that is, officially it does not have the right to control air traffic, give permission for take-off or landing, it only "provides information services" - that is, performs normal control functions - informs the weather at the aerodrome, informs about the approach and exit scheme after take-off, reports pressure, “recommends” to take a certain altitude, but without issuing permits). A curious nuance - on the final section, on the landing glide path, in response to the request "Ready for landing!" answers not as expected, "I allow landing", but "The lane is free!". The same thing on takeoff - "Ready for takeoff!" - "The lane is free!" Those. Guys, completely under your responsibility, if you want, sit down, take off, but I have nothing to do with it. The procedure is until the aerodrome is finally certified. And because of this, it is not yet even in the official ANI compilations (aeronautical information, the so-called Jeppesen, which contains data from all certified aerodromes in the world, including African unpaved ones). We have to use semi-official schemes. Decorated according to all the rules, but with large watermarks “Attention! Do not use in collections! " (i.e. not officially approved). But the airport staff say that the case is moving, and quite lively (the money is very serious).
By the way, another funny nuance. The barometric altitudes for maintaining the approach pattern are set in Sabetta in meters, but according to the pressure QNH (QNH) (minimum pressure reduced to sea level), as is done all over the world, including the original China. The trick is that Russia is the only country in the world (not counting Belarus, Ukraine and the post-Soviet Asian republics) flies not by QNH, but by QFE pressure (the height is measured from the runway level). The legacy of the USSR. The difference is that QNH is a more convenient and accurate way to maintain safe altitudes in flight (especially in mountainous areas). In order to calculate the actual airfield pressure (QFE), you need to subtract the elevation of this particular runway from the QNH value (measured in hectopascals) indicated by the controller (or in the ATIS message). For example, given QNH 1004, the elevation of runway 04 in Sabetta is 14 meters, this is approximately 1 hectopascal (1 hPa = 11 m), so the QFE will be 1004-1 = 1003. In ordinary Russian airports, it is this value that would be set on the electronic barometric altimeter when switching from the standard (1013, corresponding to 760 mb) to the airfield pressure. And in Sabetta - as in the "civilized" world - 1004. And already being guided by it, there is a further descent and landing approach. In addition, the obtained QFE value (1003) is multiplied by 0.75 and we get 752 millibars. This is to install on old-style analog dial gauges. They have long been used not for leadership, but for control.
Standard pressure (1013 or 760) is used when flying at flight level (level flight at altitude), and when descending to the "transition level" (the height at which altimeters need to be rebuilt from standard to airfield pressure) - which depends on the aerodrome, but how as a rule, in Russia and lowland Europe it is FL40-50 (4000-5000 feet or 1200-1500 m), at mountain airfields it can be 2500 m. And the Chinese do not bother - they have a single echelon of crossing - 3600 m throughout the country (they stubbornly do not go to feet, like the rest of the world), even on the plain, even in the mountains. And the transition height (when, on the contrary, when climbing, you need to rearrange the pressure value from the airfield to the standard one) is one for all - 3000 m.In Russia, this is, as a rule, 800-1000 m. ANI. It is curious that in the system of measuring the height, Russia has gone across the whole world. And ours and yours. Below the crossing height - meters, from the crossing level and above - feet (according to the Belarusian model). It seems to be in the global trend, but not quite "under the Pindos they caved in"
The attitude in Sabetta (talking about the airport) towards workers is twofold. On the one hand, there are good living and working conditions. Warm, spacious, bright rooms, equipping workplaces with the latest technology, a canteen inside the airport for employees (prices: a portion of chicken - 42 rubles, schnitzel - 54, "German" soup (vegetable with sausage) - 25 rubles, garnish - pea puree - 6 (six) rubles, buckwheat - 11, compote - 11 rubles)
On the other hand, salaries are clearly not Western (again, about the airport, I don’t know about the rest). They work on a rotational basis - 28 days here, 28 days at home. The salary is about 100 sput. Seems not bad. BUT. Payment is made ONLY for the watch. No money is paid for staying at home (at least that's what the workers say). The circle goes to 50. For the north, it is quite sparse. Most of the airport workers are from Samara (gendir Sabetta is the former director of Samara airport). For Samara, this is not bad, but there you won't get much of it either. Plus, the watch flies one plane from Samara. Nonresident (there are people from St. Petersburg, Tomsk, from other distant places) - get to Samara at their own expense.
There are no dissatisfied. Everyone is glad that they were able to get a job. In Samara itself, its own airline died long ago, the airport is more alive than dead. With the cancellation of tourist charters to Egypt and Turkey, passenger traffic has dropped sharply, staff are being cut, and work is in trouble.
So those who got to work in Sabetta consider themselves lucky.
But here there is also a redneck.
The “anchor tenant” of Sabetta, the Yamal LNG company, is building a huge plant for the production of liquefied natural gas (even on the airport building its symbols), in order to transport it later by tankers around the world (in Sabetta there are already 2 ports - river and sea). In the canteen, there is a notice “Yamal LNG employees are served out of turn”. Because of this, there was a half-curiosity, half-misunderstanding. Some arrogant fellow with a red beard and a disgustingly protruding lower lip, dressed in a civilian woman without identification marks (usually workers walk in branded overalls), came up and just shoved my colleague away, took a tray and stood up for distribution. We did not recognize him as a Yamal-LNG worker, and the impudence outraged him, and quietly began to crush the man. With words and actions (pushing out). The man began to threaten - I will send you out, they will close your entrance here! Then he took out his phone and started allegedly giving commands by phone - point the cameras here, find out what kind of people they are and prepare for deportation! Like, a big boss (this despite the fact that communication, especially local, is so unstable that basically only SMS goes through). Moreover, all the swearing took place in an undertone, with "sweet smiles." Apparently, for the local deportation is the most terrible punishment, and its slightest threat brings the most violent to their senses. Even though there are absolutely no grounds for deportation (as in our case). Apparently, arbitrariness and lack of rights here are absolute.
And this "threat" has caused nothing but a smile in our country. Deport. If you have time. We leave here ourselves in 2-3 hours. Better yet, call the office and tell them not to be sent here again. Let others fly into this hole. And then the plaque is scanty (only an hour to fly), and hemorrhoids are above the roof. Either the cargo is not prepared, then there are no cars, then the loaders were recalled, then their working day is over (!), Then something else (usual situations for Russia), then suddenly the weather has deteriorated. And it turns out a raid of 2 hours in 2-3 days. Earn money and do not deny yourself anything. Interestingly, the man was so discouraged by our reaction that he then approached our table and asked, "Guys, are you kidding me?" He could not believe in our independence in any way. Apparently, I'm used to the fact that people, on the contrary, rush here, and strangers like us are so rare. And the crews of arriving planes (regular passenger traffic with Moscow is quite intensive - several frequencies a day, plus rotational planes with gas workers and builders from different cities) do not stay overnight, but try to get out of here as soon as possible. So he left in disbelief.

The first Arctic hub in Russia is Sabetta International Airport. It is located not far from the settlement of the same name in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. is of strategic importance for the development of the oil and gas industry in the region.

Location

The Sabetta rotational camp is located in the immediate vicinity of the airport. The air harbor is located on the eastern coast near the Gulf of Ob, which belongs to the Kara Sea.

Infrastructure of the Yamal region

The Yamal region is quite difficult for the development and development of minerals. This is due not only to the harsh climate, but also to the underdeveloped infrastructure. One of the key tasks of the Yamal LNG project is to solve this problem.

The nearest air transport hub near the village of Sabetta was previously opened by the end of 2012 and is wholly owned by Gazprom. The nearest railway station "Karskaya" is located at the same distance from the village. Therefore, the problem of transport infrastructure seriously hampered the development of the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field.

Sabetta airport (Yamal): construction

The construction of an air transport hub near the village of Sabetta was a large-scale Yamal LNG project. This project provides for the construction of the transport infrastructure of the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field, which is one of the largest in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in terms of natural gas reserves. There is also a plant that produces liquefied natural gas. Construction of the transport infrastructure began in 2012, when the construction of the Sabetta airport began. In the same year, the construction of the seaport began. The port is intended for navigation throughout the year. In the future, the Russian icebreaker fleet will be localized here.

The operator of the Arctic "air gates" is the limited liability company "International Airport Sabetta", which, in turn, is owned by the "Yamal LNG" enterprise, which is implementing the project for the development of the South Tambeyskoye field. Among the shareholders of Yamal LNG:

1. Independent Russian company Novatek (holds 60% of shares).
2. French oil and gas company "Total" (20% of shares).
3. National Oil and Gas Corporation from China CNPC (20% stake).

The total investment in the implementation of the Yamal CIS project, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to about $ 27 billion. During the year, the volume of natural gas production reaches 30 billion cubic meters. Gas is exported mainly in a liquefied state. The estimated volume of reserves of raw materials is about 492 billion cubic meters, and other liquid hydrocarbons - 14 million tons.

The construction of the Arctic hub assumed the use of the latest technologies for the construction of structures on permafrost flooded soils. The project for the construction of a two-story building for the air terminal complex was published at the end of 2013 on the Novatek Internet portal. In early 2014, Yamal LNG reported that, according to preliminary estimates, the volume of investments in the construction of an air transport hub amounted to 150 million rubles.

The project for the construction of the complex involved two stages of work. The first included the construction of a service and passenger terminal located on an area of ​​36 × 42 m. The second envisaged the construction of an international terminal on an area of ​​36 × 36.5 m and a building for a command and control center. Thus, both terminals should be located on an area of ​​36 × 78.5 m. Initially, the opening of the first Arctic airport was planned for June 2015.

The project of the airfield complex included the construction of a runway, hangars for aircraft. The construction of the runway was completed by December 2014.

In July 2015, the airport management received a certificate of conformity for the implementation of the airport's activities. Also, the air hub was entered in the state register. On October 5 of the same year, the Interstate Aviation Committee officially recognized the suitability of the airport for receiving and sending international flights. And on December 24, a checkpoint across the state border was opened.

Sabetta airport: opening

Despite the fact that the opening of the hub was scheduled for 2015, the first flight was accepted in 2014. On December 22, the first plane flew to the village of Sabetta. It was the Boeing 737 of the domestic carrier UTair. The flight was primarily technical in nature. Acceptance of aircraft and servicing of passenger flights began on February 2, 2015. The airport opened for international flights on July 29 of the same year. The reason for this was the order of the Russian government, as well as the installation of a cargo-passenger checkpoint across the state border. The first international flight took place on the night of March 4, 2016, which was carried out on the route "Beijing - Sabetta - Moscow". The aircraft arrived from the Chinese capital and delivered four passengers to Sabetta (Yamal region), after which it departed for Moscow.

Runway characteristics

Sabetta Airport has a runway made of reinforced concrete, which fully complies with the requirements of the first category of ICAO. The strip measures 2704 m in length and 46 m in width.

Accepted types of aircraft

The Arctic hub can receive and dispatch the following types of airliners:

• Il-76.
• "Airbus A-320".
• Boeing 737-300.
• Boeing 767-200.

It is also capable of receiving aircraft with a lighter take-off weight and all types of helicopters.

Airlines, flights

Currently, Sabetta Airport is engaged in servicing regular rotational passenger flights, which are operated by the domestic companies UTair and Yamal.

UTair operates flights from Sabetta to Moscow (Vnukovo airport), Novy Urengoy and Samara. The Yamal air carrier operates flights to Moscow (Domodedovo airport) and Novy Urengoy.

Thus, the Sabetta Arctic Airport is of great strategic national importance. It was built as part of the Yamal LNG project, designed to improve the transport infrastructure of the South Tambeyskoye natural gas field. The construction of the hub began almost from scratch in 2012 and was completed by the end of 2014. V.V. Putin notes that the project is financed from private and public funds. General Director of UTair A. Martirosov believes that the opening of the airport will increase the level of transport accessibility of the Yamal Peninsula and become an impetus for the development of the north-west of Siberia. The village of Sabetta has actually become the largest international air transport hub in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.