The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Russian: Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг; Nenets: Ненэцие" автономной округ’, romanized: Nyeneciye” awtonomnoy okruk’[10]) also known as Nenetsia[11] (Russian: Нене́ция) is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

The district is around 320 km from north to south and around 950 km from east to west, stretching from Mys Bolvansky Nos in the north to the source of the Oma River in the south and Cape Kanin Nos in the west to the banks of the Kara River in the east.

[19] Municipally, the town of Naryan-Mar is incorporated as Naryan-Mar Urban Okrug, while the district (including the settlement of Kharuta, which geographically is an exclave surrounded by the territory of the Komi Republic) is incorporated as Zapolyarny Municipal District.

[22] By the end of the fifteenth century, Novgorod's influence was waning and the area fell under the control of Muscovy[22] and in 1499, they established, Pustozyorsk (Russian: Пустозёрск, literally meaning deserted lakes), and it became a military, commercial, cultural and administrative hub for the area.

[18] The economy of Zapolyarny district is dominated by oil and gas, constituting around 99% of all industrial activity within the whole Okrug.

[25] The dominance of oil and gas exploration within the Okrug has seen associated revenues increase dramatically, with €190 million generated in 2007 compared to only €6.7 million ten years prior,[24] with fuel industry's share of the districts GRP increasing from 65% in 2001 to 80% in 2005.

[26] This increase in revenue has resulted from a marked increase in investment in the area by the parent companies of the concerns operating in the District, such as Rosneft, Lukoil, Total, Surgutneftegas and TNK-BP, whose input equates to approximately 90% of the total annual investment in the district.

[18] In the first quarter of 2009, industrial production grew by 34.7% compared with the same period last year[27] However, investments in industrial and housing construction decreased by 60.6% and 90.9% respectively,[27] in the first three months of 2009, oil production totaled 4,419 million tons, an increase of over 35% on the same period in the previous year[26] As a result of the significant and speedy increase in investment in the area, the district is faced with a widespread infrastructure problem meaning that progress at many of the oil and gas exploration sites is hampered by accessibility issues, compounded by the severe arctic climate of the district.

[24] The Duma of Nenets Autonomous Okrug has stated their intention to address this issue as a priority, including the construction of the third phase of the Naryan-Mar-Usinsk road,[24] construction of a Naryan-Mar-Telviska-Velikovisochnoye pipeline[24] and a renovation of the wastewater treatment system in Iskateley.

[24] Officials have also proposed that the line to Ust-Kara be extended to Amderma to provide adequate transportation routes to allow the economic extraction of several mineral deposits, with an estimated worth of between €100–135 billion.

[24] Without this investment in infrastructure, the main means of transportation is air, with regular flights to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Arkangelsk and Usa.