I AM READY!: THE NEXT GENERATION OF MOBILE PROFESSIONALS IN THE RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

This article draws on the example of students from long-distance commuter families, studying at the Ufa State Petroleum Technical University (UGNTU) in the Republic of Bashkortostan. This case study shows that long-distance commuting (LDC) to the sub-arctic extractive industry regions is on the one hand both a socio-economic necessity as well as an attractive form of making a livelihood. A central reason why people on the other hand do not opt for LDC is the cyclical distance from the family. However, even more though the weak living and dangerous working conditions at site reduce the motivation for this multi-local and mobile career path. This article is based on ethnographic and quantitative applied research. It shows on the one hand, where the industry should put the emphasis on in order to use the strong potential of high-qualified workforce for the remote extraction sites in the Arctic and Subarctic. On the other hand, this article shows the tight socio-spatial relations for people from the central and southern parts of Russia to the Far Northern regions and their material meaning as resource peripheries for the social vertical mobility of people including gender specific effects.