Sakhalin Region
The Sakhalin Region is Russia's only region comprised entirely of islands. Located in the Sea of Okhotsk off the eastern coast of Asia, these islands include Sakhalin Island, the two small neighbouring islands of Moneron and Tyuleny, and the Kuril Islands, a chain of 56 large and small islands. The Sakhalin Region covers an area of 87,100 square kilometres. With a distance of 10,417 kilometres between Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Moscow, it is one of Russia's most remote region.
Sakhalin Island plays the key role in the region. Covering an area of 76,600 square kilometres, it is Russia's largest island, at 948 kilometres long and between 160 kilometres (maximum) and 26 kilometres (minimum) wide. The Kuril Islands extend 1,200 kilometres southwest from Kamchatka's southern tip to Hokkaido Island, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean.
The Sakhalin Region contains large deposits of more than 50 types of minerals, including coal, oil, gas, primary materials for the chemical and cement industries, placer deposits of titaniferous magnetite, manifestations of gold ore, mercury, manganese, tungsten, silver, copper, lead, zinc, chromium, nickel, cobalt, titanium, and strontium. The region is also rich in mineral and thermal water.
In 2010, the Sakhalin Region ranked fifth in Russia in terms of economic and social performance. In 2010, the gross regional product reached 455.2 billion roubles, up 3% from 2009. Capital investments totaled 131 billion roubles, (107.8% from 2009), and industrial output reached 385.3 billion roubles, up 1.2% from a year earlier.
In 2010, the region produced 14.8 million tonnes of crude and 24.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas, largely under the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects. More than 10 million tonnes of LNG was exported.
Under the Sakhalin-1 project, the Odoptu oilfield was placed in operation in September 2010. An LNG plant built under the Sakhalin-2 project reached full capacity last year. Additionally a new gasfield, Yuzhno-Kirinskoye, was discovered during Sakhalinskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya's (the Sakhalin Oil Company's) development of the Anivskiye gasfields.
Coal production last year rose to 3.7 million tonnes, which is enough to fully meet the region's demand in coal. Of this amount, 1.2 million tonnes was supplied to other areas, a 28.6% rise over the previous year, including exports of 1.1 million tonnes, up 39.4% from 2009.
The agricultural output in the region grew almost 7% in 2010. Stocks of pigs and poultry were up 26.8% from 2009; the region's farmers also increased their gross potato crop. Fish and marine products totalled 550,700 tonnes, and 428,900 tonnes of fish was processed. There are 37 fish farms in the region.
Gross average wages in the region in 2010 increased by 9.4% to 35,800 roubles. Last year the rate of registered unemployment in the region was 1.2%, while more than 22,000 people, or 70.2% of those who had applied to employment agencies (compared with 63.1% in 2009) obtained jobs.
In 2010, 200,300 square metres of residential space was built, or 20% more than a year earlier. Sakhalin has shown remarkable progress in carrying out its mass residential development programme, as well as programmes to enhance the earthquake resistance of residential buildings and demolish dilapidated and hazardous housing. In order to resolve these issues through funds from private individuals, the Sakhalin Region's new housing programme for 2011 – 2015 provides for reestablishing housing and construction cooperatives (ZhSK), a model that had proved successful in the U.S.S.R.
Plans are to allocate free government land to young people for housing construction on Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands under the Svoi Dom (Your House) project being run by the United Russia Party. Appropriate government support mechanisms will be developed to allow locals to build their own houses for living and working on the islands.
