Jakub M. Godzimirski

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 Russias 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 Russias offshore petroleum resources and the influence of competing Russian political actors over the countrys 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 Rosnefts image abroad, and either to avert or prepare for future privatisation of state companies such as Rosneft.

Putin and Post-Soviet Identity: Building Blocks and Buzz Words

Putin carefully constructed an official identity from key elements of Russias history, including Soviet-era elements that would resonate with the Russian population.

Russian national security concepts 1997 and 2000: A comparative analysis

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the newly independent Russia had to redefine its relations with the outside world. In order to establish new relationships with both new and traditional cooperation partners, the countrys leadership had to define the main strategic objectives, identify the main interests and threats to Russias security and propose new ways of coping with the challenges the vast country confronted. The first years of independence were marked by a power struggle between various parts of the political elite, which delayed the process of defining the countrys strategic goals in the field of national security. In December 1997, the Concept of National Security of the Russian Federation was published, and in January 2000 a new version was made public. This brief article is a comparative study of the concepts of national security embodied in the two documents, focusing on Russias relations with the outside world and use of nuclear deterrence as a means to solve security and status dilemmas.

EU Gas Supply Security: The Power of the Importer

The chapter examines how the European Union can exert its market and regulatory power in its relations with key external energy suppliers. The focus is on the EU instrument toolbox and how various policy instruments have been used in relations with the main suppliers of gas to the Union. Due to the centrality of Russia and Norway to the EU’s gas supply and their different ways of relating to the Union in formal and regulatory terms, the chapter focuses on the impact EU market and regulatory power has had on the operations of these two actors. The chapter also presents some general conclusions on the effectiveness of the EU’s use of various policy instruments in relations with external suppliers of energy.

Introduction: The EU and the Changing (Geo)Politics of Energy in Europe

This introductory chapter has three purposes. First, it presents the background for this volume originating in a research project on European integration funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN). Second, it explains why EU energy policy in this context deserves closer scrutiny looking at energy relationships between the EU and external suppliers of energy and the EU and member states. Finally, this chapter gives an overview of the content of this book and explains rationales for the choice of cases presenting how the EU projects its power, how external suppliers Norway, Russia, Algeria and LNG providers have responded and how the member states Germany, Poland and the three Baltic countries interact with the EU when implementing their energy policies.

Conclusions: What Has the EU Achieved, and What Is in the Offing?

This chapter sums up the main findings and looks into challenges the EU will face in the future. This volume examines and addresses several questions dealing with the EU ability to project various types of soft and hard power in EU’s interaction with external energy suppliers and member states and their responses. The second part focuses on the future challenges in the field of energy and is based on examination of some scenarios for development of the global energy system, the EU’s own understanding of future challenges in the field of energy and finally on examination of the WEF assessment of risks and trends that may influence future developments.

Channels of Influence or How Non-Members Can Influence EU Energy Policy

External suppliers of energy interested in access to EU energy market use various instruments to influence the process of energy policy-making and promote their interests. This chapter examines how those external suppliers are present in Brussels, their interests in energy policy, the formal and informal frameworks they operate in as well as various instruments they have at their disposal to influence the process of policy-making in the EU. The focus is on the use of communicative and other instruments employed by Norway, a quasi-EU member through its EEA affiliation, and Russia, the main external supplier of energy to the EU and source of strategic concern, the two countries interested in security of demand facing EU preoccupied with security of supply and diversification of supplies and routes.

Masters of the Russian Aluminium Roulette

What strategies have the most influential Russian aluminium actors adopted when faced with challenges to their economic interests? This chapter examines how these actors have operated in the Russian state, using their access to various kinds of networks to promote their own economic interests. Further, the chapter shows how their economic strength has been translated into political influence by mapping the position of the key aluminium actors in Russian rankings of economic and political power.

Basics of the Global Aluminium Market

What are the key characteristics of the global aluminium market? How has the market evolved in recent decades? What is the role of Russian aluminium producers on the global market? What other actors and forces shape this market?—Those key questions are explored in this chapter, which enquires into how Russian aluminium producers have become key players on the market and how the emergence of China as the main producer of this commodity has changed the global aluminium game.

Soviet and Russian Aluminium Until 2000 in Brief

This chapter sheds light on the history of the Soviet and Russian industry from the 1930s and until 2000, noting the role of structural economic and political factors in this process. The history of the Soviet aluminium industry is presented, as is the underlying strategic rationale for its development. The chapter then examines how the situation of the aluminium industry was affected by the end of the Soviet political project and the ensuing processes of privatizing the Russian economy. Finally, it turns to the problem of access to necessary natural resources as well the need for energy, and how these issues have contributed to the evolution of this branch of the Russian economy.