Russia is a big exporter of oil and gas. The Yamal peninsula has become a main hub. In  February 2020 the Barents Observer [8] reported that Gazprom Neft intends to build a more than hundred kilometers long natural gas pipeline from its Novy Port field in Yamal. On 8th of December 2021 Gazprom company officially launched its new 115,5 km long pipeline from which 58,4 km is subsea constructed across the Gulf of Ob [2]. [7]. The pipeline is needed for connecting production facilities on the Yamal Peninsula up north to the Yamburg—Tula gas trunk pipeline south of the peninsula [3].

The pipeline is made to carry up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year and is a key part of Gazprom Neft’s ambitious project known and branded as the "Yamal Gas". The company, an oil subsidiary of Gazprom, has invested €1,8 billion in the new undersea infrastructure [3].

The Gulf of Ob and the adjacent peninsulas of Yamal and Gydan both being a top priority region of Russia’s oil and gas industry [2]. The new undersea pipeline project is also related to the development of Novy Port as well as the oil and gas field in the Yamal Peninsula [2] ---previously reported in EJAtlas .

Environmentalists fear the pipeline project will, again, pose a threat to highly vulnerable Arctic environment and likely to have irreversible damage as natural resource extractors expand into the area [4]. Yamal, Gydan and now Ob bay too [1,2]. 

Indigenous groups in the area are not convinced about the technological assurances from the company. According to locals, the major dredging operations in the area might have harmed the marine ecosystem already. Many local fishermen have reported a decrease in their catch on which they relay for their livelihoods and healthy diet [1 via 6]. Besides fishery, Nenets Indigenous peoples on Yamal Peninsula depend on reindeer husbandry [2].

In addition, several researchers have voiced concern about the development from the Ural Institute of the Ecology of Flora and Fauna. In a comment to Pravda local newspaper, one researcher explains that the Ob Bay must remain untouched by the energy companies if the vulnerable fish stocks are to be preserved [1].

The researcher added: "The waters around Cape Trekhburny is where fresh waters from the Taz Bay flows into the Ob Bay. If dredging is conducted in this area it will be the end to the so-called semi-anadromous fish stocks" [1] and thus livelihoods of local people [2]. 

"Fresh water cod will be no more". "Fish in the Ob will vanish". "It will be a huge loss, which actually can not be restored." "The ecosystem will be completely changed” the researcher furthermore stated [1]. The oil and gas pipelines has meant the disappearance of fish, for some years already [9]. 

Capacity 20 billion cubic meters of gas annual-capacity subsea Arctic gas pipeline is a key element in the major “Yamal Gas” investment project [3]. The underwater section (58,4 km) traversing the Gulf of Ob lays five metres below the seabed [3, 5].

It is reported that "Russian oil and gas company Gazprom Neft officially launched a new 115.5-kilometer pipeline across the Gulf of Ob early last month. The pipeline will be able to carry up to 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year and is a key part of the company’s big project branded as the Yamal Gas. The company, an oil-subsidiary of Gazprom, has invested 150 billion rubles (€1.8 billion) in the new infrastructure. The Yamal Gas project also includes the building of a processing plant that ultimately will produce up to 15 billion cubic meters of dry-stripped gas, 1 million tonnes of gas condensate, and 710,000 tonnes of natural gas liquids (NGLs) per year, the company says. The project is closely connected with the development of Novy Port, the oil and gas field in the Yamal Peninsula. Gazprom Neft has already invested heavily in local infrastructure, including the Arctic Gate terminal, a fleet of seven ice-class oil tankers and two powerful icebreakers. More than 6 million tons of oil is now annually shipped out from the Arctic Gate terminal, through the icy waters of the Ob Bay and to world markets. But the Novy Port and its adjacent fields hold not only oil, but also major volumes of natural gas."[7]