Russian Energy Policy During President Putin S Tenure

This important report looks at the policies and strategies President Putin has developed in the field of energy and at the current climate for foreign investors in the sector. Russian energy policy is at an important watershed. A substantial increase in the output of oil & gas, has led some analysts to view Russia as a reliable, alternative to global dependence on energy supplies from the Gulf. On the other hand, there are concerns that current Russian energy strategy comes closer to the Venezuelan OCyenergy state-capitalismOCO model where foreign energy companies are welcome to invest, but only on MoscowOCOs terms and in partnership with a state-controlled national energy company. How are these strategies unfolding and what are the lessons for private sector investors?"

This important report looks at the policies and strategies President Putin has developed in the field of energy and at the current climate for foreign investors in the sector. Russian energy policy is at an important watershed. A substantial increase in the output of oil & gas, has led some analysts to view Russia as a reliable, alternative to global dependence on energy supplies from the Gulf. On the other hand, there are concerns that current Russian energy strategy comes closer to the Venezuelan 'energy state-capitalism' model where foreign energy companies are welcome to invest, but only on Moscow's terms and in partnership with a state-controlled national energy company. How are these strategies unfolding and what are the lessons for private sector investors?

'Russia is an increasingly important player in global energy markets, yet its policies are under-researched and little understood. This collection represents an important and sophisticated contribution to the debate. While much of the commentary on Russian energy consists of generalizations about Russia's political strategy, this work lifts the lid and looks inside the process through which Russian energy policies are designed and implemented. It brings together essays by top specialists in the field, and makes a conscious effort to integrate the various disciplines of politics, economics and geography by developing a model of the "cognitive frames" through which the policy process is shaped. It addresses both domestic and international dimensions of the problem, and gives equal weight to traditional customers in Europe and new markets in Asia.' Peter Rutland, Wesleyan University, US 'The book explains Russian energy policies, instead of a policy. It portrays a picture with multiple policy drivers, including institutional, regional and federal, environmental and commercial. The study markedly improves our understanding of the multifaceted nature of Russian energy policy, a topical and complex issue. This is a highly commendable book that should be included in the reading lists of anyone with an interest in the role of energy in Russia's political economy or energy matters more generally.' Kim Talus, University College London, Australia Russia's vast energy reserves, and its policies towards them have enormous importance in the current geopolitical landscape. This important book examines Russia's energy policies on the national, interregional and global level. It pays particular attention to energy policy actors ranging from state, federal and regional actors, to energy companies and international financial actors and organizations. The book models the formation of Russia's energy policies in terms of how energy policy actors perceive and map their policy environment. The case studies cover federal, regional and environmental aspects of Russian energy policy, Russia's energy relations with Europe and the CIS, North East Asia, the globalization of Russian oil companies and the political economy of Russian energy. It is found that there are several concurrent energy policies in contemporary Russia, and that this situation is likely to continue. These policies are conducted primarily from the business frame perspective while notions of energy superpower Russia are found more ambiguous. Russia's Energy Policies will benefit advanced master's level students, doctoral students, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. The book will be a great resource for advanced international relations, political economy, international business and globalisation courses alongside energy policy courses, as well as area studies courses on Russian, post-Soviet and European politics and environmental politics.

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Russia, grade: B, University of Illinois at Chicago, language: English, abstract: Energy policy refers to the approach that governmental entities take to address issues pertaining to development of energy, particularly its production, distribution, and consumption. Energy policy is surrounded by many factors that affect it, which include legislative policies, investment incentives, treaties, taxation policies, and energy conservation, among many other public policy factors. The Russian energy policy is contained in a strategy document, which outlines the nation's energy policy until the year 2020. Russia has been proved to have the largest natural gas reserves in the world, and it recurrently alternates the top oil producer position with Saudi Arabia. Russia is responsible for supplying over a third of the oil and natural gas that Europe uses, and it is even starting to export its surplus to East Asian markets, which are hungry for energy. The energy sector is obviously a vital commercial asset for Russia, but it is much more than just that; for more than a century, Russia's energy sector has been one of its major pillars in the country's stabilization and escalating power. Energy security has been classified as the most fundamental aspect of Russia's national security, and more so because of the recent changes in global trends, which make the continuation of the strength of Russia's energy sector doubtful. Through out the history of Russia, its energy sector has undergone cycles of fluctuating strength and weakness. Since the czarist times, it has been the focus of the country's policy to manage these cycles. However, this history can be traced back to Vladimir Putin's regime. This paper, therefore, will discuss the political pressure activated by Russia's trade of oil and natural gas in Europe during Putin's third presidency.

In the aftermath of the financial collapse of August 1998, it looked as if Russia's day as a superpower had come and gone. That it should recover and reassert itself after less than a decade is nothing short of an economic and political miracle. Based on extensive research, including several interviews with Vladimir Putin, this revealing book chronicles Russia's dramatic reemergence on the world stage, illuminating the key reason for its rebirth: the use of its ever-expanding energy wealth to reassert its traditional great power ambitions. In his deft, informative narrative, Marshall Goldman traces how this has come to be, and how Russia is using its oil-based power as a lever in world politics. The book provides an informative overview of oil in Russia, traces Vladimir Putin's determined effort to reign in the upstart oil oligarchs who had risen to power in the post-Soviet era, and describes Putin's efforts to renationalize and refashion Russia's industries into state companies and his vaunted "national champions" corporations like Gazprom, largely owned by the state, who do the bidding of the state. Goldman shows how Russia paid off its international debt and has gone on to accumulate the world's third largest holdings of foreign currency reserves--all by becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum and the world's second largest exporter. Today, Vladimir Putin and his cohort have stabilized the Russian economy and recentralized power in Moscow, and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) have made it all possible. The story of oil and gas in Russia is a tale of discovery, intrigue, corruption, wealth, misguidance, greed, patronage, nepotism, and power. Marshall Goldman tells this story with panache, as only one of the world's leading authorities on Russia could.

"Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin will hold a summit at the end of September that will focus on economic and other ties between the United States and Russia. The two presidents have long recognized the central position of energy in our bilateral relations, and in that sphere, nothing is as critical as oil. Today Russia may again be the largest oil exporter in the world, but very little yet comes to the United States. Russia's oil industry is dominated by rich and aggressive young private companies. Generally, they are eager to deal with foreigners, but despite significant state reforms they often are still inhibited by a dilapidated, state-controlled delivery system and a residue of traditional thinking and institutions. Many of Russia's as-yet-unresolved post-Soviet prob-lems exploded in mid-2003 when the prosecutor general's office attacked Yukos, the country's most modernized, productive and pro-American private oil company. Thus even as Washington and American oil industry leaders actively sought alternatives to unstable sources in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, basic questions re-emerged in Russia about the privatizations of the 1990s, the security of private property, the mixing of law and politics, and the exercise of power in the Kremlin. Today Russians, with the support of American and European allies, must create conditions that will welcome the foreign funds, technology, and expertise needed to develop the critical oil industry but also to lay foundations of law and infrastructure that will help make Russia a stable member of the world community. Americans must decide how much involvement Russia can constructively absorb to promote not only short-term oil supplies but also long-term Russian development and broader U.S. foreign policy goals. Finally, the critical long-term lesson of 9/11 and other recent experiences for Americans is that even as we cultivate Russia as an ally and major source of oil, we must actively develop alternative sources of energy. In an unstable world, the United States must not forever be held hostage by other nations with their often very different cultures, institutions and interests."--Summary.

Providing an in-depth review of Russia's key economic policies, this book is the first systematic study of the political economy of oil windfalls in Putin's Russia.