BizJournals Portfolio

From Gulag to Untapped Oasis

Nov 19 2007

Back to: Putin's Power Grab

Sakhalin
Fashion Stroll
Pastoral
Burt
Khrushcheby
Canteen
Olga
1 of 12
The Smoke of Progress
An aerial view of a power plant in Sakhalin's sprawling, dusty capital city, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Although Sakhalin II is creating unparalleled prosperity on the island—the unemployment rate is now 1.5 percent—environmentalists complain that the island's many gas and oil projects are responsible for erosion and pollution.
A Fashion Stroll in Korsakov Plaza
The energy boom is modernizing Sakhalin, bringing malls, bistros, and even strawberries to the former island gulag.
Sakhalin Island Pastoral
As early as October, snow can cover the rooftops of houses in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, on Sakhalin's southern end. Fierce storms that blow out of the icy Sea of Okhotsk frequently pound the island, wreaking havoc on the offshore oil and gas platforms.
Pipe Wrangler
Steve Burt, a Sakhalin Energy manager in charge of part of the ambitious trans-island pipeline project, has one of the hardest construction jobs on earth. The pipeline crosses 1,100 waterways and 21 seismic zones along its roughly 500-mile route.
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Khrushcheby, in the center of town, is a typical apartment dwelling all across the former USSR.
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The canteen of the Sokol work camp.
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Olga, a translator, in her dorm room at the Sokol work camp.
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Migrant workers from the Philippines hang out with locals in Korsakov, a small town located close to the LNG site.
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Ivan, from Vladivostock, came to Yuzhno-Sakhalin for a chance at a good job. Penniless, he now sleeps in a battered old Volga car.
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Drinking champagne and smoking cigarettes in the lounge of the Mega Palace, where deals are struck and some women look for rich husbands.
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Shopping for fur hats in the Korean, or Chinese (depending on whom you ask) market.
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Lenin Square, the centre of town.
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The Exxon headquarters in downtown Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the newest of all the energy offices.
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The LNG plant of the Sakhalin II energy site.
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Aniva Bay in Korsakov, just a few kilometers from the LNG site.
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A pumping crane for gas sits offshore of the LNG plant, in Aniva Bay in Korsakov.