A further attractive aspect of producing oil in Russia's far north is that the KomiNeft corporation--spun off from the Soviet-era oil monopoly--is exclusively responsible for the workforce and does not, in fact, pay workers in standard currency (either roubles or dollars). According to Victoria Clark of The Observer newspaper, oil workers in the Timan-Pechora Basin receive payment in `leonidovki', credit notes named for KomiNeft's general director Valentin Leonidov.
These credit coupons are only exchangeable in state-owned shops.
An article from the FT on 4 July of this year, concerning the debt crisis of the Russian oil industry, mentioned oil workers not receiving wages - some for up to six months. According to the article, a hunger strike had started by oil workers in Usinsk because of a backlog of wages to February this year.