Jakub M. Godzimirski

European Energy Security in the Wake of the Russia–Ukraine Crisis, PISM Strategic File 27(63)

Russia’s confrontational approach towards Ukraine and the West has made energy security bells ring in many European capitals and in Brussels. This is perfectly understandable because Russia is the most important external supplier of energy to the EU, and Ukraine is the country through which more than 50 per cent of Russian gas destined for the EU is shipped. The EU learnt earlier, in 2006 and 2009, how tensions in gas relations between Russia and Ukraine may influence the situation on the European gas market. This time, however, the EU is on course to change its energy policy and relations with Russia, in order to enhance its security and limit the possibility of energy blackmail.

Russian Energy in a Changing World: What is the Outlook for the Hydrocarbons Superpower

For a long time Russia’s position as a key global energy player has enhanced Moscow’s international economic and political influence whilst causing concern amongst other states fearful of becoming too dependent on Russia as an energy supplier. The Global Financial Crisis shook this established image of Russia as an indispensable energy superpower, immune to negative external influences and revealed the full extent of Russia’s dependence on oil and gas for economic and political influence. This led to calls from within the country for a new approach where energy resources were no longer regarded wholly as an asset, but also a potential curse resulting in an over reliance on one sector thwarting modernization of the economy and the country as a whole. In this fascinating and timely volume leading Russian and Western scholars examine various aspects of Russian energy policy and the opportunities and constraints that influence the choices made by the country’s energy decision makers. Contributors focus on Russia’s energy relations with the rest of the world alongside internal debates about the need for diversification and modernisation in a changing economy, country and world system where overdependence on energy commodities has become a key concern for customer and supplier alike.

Introduction: Understanding Russian Energy after the Crisis

Actors, Ideas and Actions

Russian Energy: Summing up and Looking Ahead

Institusjonaliseringen av Russlands moderniseringsprosess. Fra Medvdevs kommisjon til Putins råd (Institutionalisation of Russia’s modernization...

Rosneft’s offshore partnerships: the re-opening of the Russian petroleum frontier?

During an intense period of only 14 months, from June 2010 to August 2011, six major cooperation agreements between oil companies were announced in Russia. Almost all of these partnerships involved offshore projects, with an international oil company as one of the partners and Rosneft as the other. The agreements were concentrated along Russia's Arctic petroleum frontier, and the three that survived the longest involved oil or gas extraction in the Arctic. This article analyses and compares the contents and contexts of the agreements, to ascertain what they have to tell about access for international companies to Russia's offshore petroleum resources and the influence of competing Russian political actors over the country's petroleum sector. The article argues that the new partnerships did represent an intention to open up the Russian continental shelf, and that the agreements were driven and shaped by a series of needs: to secure foreign capital and competence, to reduce exploration risk, to lobby for a better tax framework, to show the government that necessary action was being taken to launch exploration activities, to improve Rosneft's image abroad, and either to avert or prepare for future privatisation of state companies such as Rosneft.

Russian External Energy Strategy: Opportunities and Constraints