Emergency crews on alert at Russia’s largest LNG plant
Against the backdrop of large-scale Ukrainian drone attacks on oil and gas facilities, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry (Emercom) has opened a major emergency centre in Sabetta.
The distance to Ukraine is nearly 3,000 kilometres. Yet this may not be sufficient to prevent a Ukrainian strike on the strategically important gas plant on the Yamal Peninsula.
The rescue and emergency centre, which opened on 12 May, is located in Sabetta, a company town that hosts the Yamal LNG plant. The facility can produce up to 17 million tonnes of LNG annually and accounts for a lion's share of Novatek’s export revenues.
"This is a modern facility that provides everything necessary for rescue teams to perform their duties and, above all, to ensure their comfort while working in the harsh conditions of the north," said Emercom head Aleksandr Kurenkov in a statement.
He emphasised that the centre has a number of Burlak snowmobiles at its disposal, as well as equipment for underwater operations. An Mi-38PS helicopter will also be stationed there.
According to Kurenkov, the new centre will "significantly reduce response times to incidents in hard-to-reach areas of the far north."
Eighteen additional emergency and rescue centres are planned for the Arctic, Kurenkov added. From before, centres have been established in Murmansk and Pevek.
Present at the official opening of the new centre were Yamal-Nenets regional governor Dmitry Artyukhov and head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency Veronika Skvortsova.
Skvortsova noted that the centre will also provide medical and biological services. "Since 2024, our flagship centre for medical and biological support along the Northern Sea Route, based in Murmansk, has been fully operational. It serves as a central command hub, operating around the clock in areas such as telemedicine, psychological support, and radiation, chemical, and biological safety," she said.
In recent months, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have repeatedly struck targets more than 1,500 km inside Russia. A significant number of oil and gas plants and infrastructure have been attacked and destroyed. Although the Sabetta plant is located further away, it is likely to remain a potential target.
