The Enigma Of Soviet Petroleum

The Enigma of Soviet Petroleum (1980) provides an analysis of the relevance of the Soviet planning system to oil production levels: why it is that planning has been the source of so many petroleum industry problems, and the nature of the measures that are being taken to overcome them. It looks at the demand for petroleum in the USSR, and the discovery of new Soviet oil fields to furnish this demand.

Russian Oil Supply traces the development of the Russian oil industry from its inception in the 1870s through the present. The fundamental geology of the two main producing basins (Volga-Ural and West Siberia) is presented along with a review of key production technologies. The technical, economic, and policy aspects of achieving the 1987-88 peak production are described as well as the mechanics of the production collapse that followed and, since 1999, the recovery of Russian output. The performance of Russia's major oil companies, independents and joint ventures is analyzed and conclusions drawn on the future course of production and exports.

This book makes two central claims: first, that mineral-rich states are cursed not by their wealth but, rather, by the ownership structure they choose to manage their mineral wealth and second, that weak institutions are not inevitable in mineral-rich states. Each represents a significant departure from the conventional resource curse literature, which has treated ownership structure as a constant across time and space and has presumed that mineral-rich countries are incapable of either building or sustaining strong institutions - particularly fiscal regimes. The experience of the five petroleum-rich Soviet successor states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) provides a clear challenge to both of these assumptions. Their respective developmental trajectories since independence demonstrate not only that ownership structure can vary even across countries that share the same institutional legacy but also that this variation helps to explain the divergence in their subsequent fiscal regimes.

The Caspian-Caucasus region has received considerable attention over the past eight years. The old potential of this colossal territory is so significant that the analytical centres of the world's largest oil and refining companies consider it to be more long-term than the unstable Persian Gulf. The Politics of Caspian Oil is a collection of essays presenting the results of recent research, which should serve as a reference book for the politics of Caspian oil.

The opening of the Caspian Sea basin to Western investment following the breakup of the Soviet Union produced a major contest for access to the region's vast energy reserves on the part of powers as close as Russia, Turkey, and Iran, and as far away as Japan and the United States. Indeed, the struggle to exploit Caspian oil has been one of the most monumental geopolitical developments of the post-Cold War era as external powers vie for political, economic, and military influence in a region brimming not only with oil, but also with ethnic conflicts and historical animosities. The coming decade of rapidly increasing demand for energy will ensure the continued interest and engagement of external powers with often competing geopolitical agendas. Thus the geopolitical developments spawned by the opening of the Caspian Sea are likely to continue to far outweigh the actual impact of Caspian oil on world energy markets. This collection of essays by prominent scholars and international experts offers several important and often conflicting interpretations of the events unfolding along the shores of the world's oldest oil-producing region.

Professor Freedman provides an exhaustive account of Soviet policy in the Middle East from the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 to withdrawal from the country ten years later.

A study of the actors and institutions that shaped decision-making on privatization in the Russian oil industry between 1992 and 2006. The book analyses the origins of privatization as a policy on a macro, industry-wide level, as well as presenting three in-depth case studies of privatization on a company level.