Energy institutional and organisational changes in EU and Russia: Revisiting gas relations

Abstract

International audienceThis article tries to shed light on why gas relations between the EU and Russia, which were previously stable, have deteriorated since the introduction of institutional changes in the two regions. After identifying the areas of divergence in the context of European gas market liberalization, we then attempt to examine them in the context of the differing approaches to structuring this sector. The model of vertically unbundled network industries promoted by the EU is no longer the one that Russia intends to implement in its gas sector, despite the big changes taking place in its domestic market. All this is happening in a context where the economic stakes are very high. For the EU and its gas companies, access to Russia's hydrocarbon resources is a key question. For Gazprom, the question is whether or not it can define strategies that are flexible enough to adapt to the changing conditions in the European gas market

Strategijska kultura kao faktor definisanja energetske politike Evropske unije i Ruske federacije

“…Термин "стратегијска култура" први пут се појавио током хладног рата, у књизи Џека Снајдера под насловом "Совијетска стратегијска култура: последице по нуклеране опције". 4 Тада је стратегијска култура дефинисана као скуп идеала, емотивних одговора, образаца понашања које чланови одређене заједнице усвајају путем ин- 1 International Energy Agency: The IEA Model of Short-Term Energy Security: Primary Energy Sources and Secondary Fuels. Paris, France, 2018.…”

“…3 International Energy Agency Report, 2018. 4 Snyder J. The Soviet Strategic Culture: Implication for Limited Nuclear Options, A project Air-force report for the United States Air Force, 1977. струкције или имитације и деле једни са другима.…”

Gazprom and the complexity of the EU gas market: a strategy to define

“…By banking on low growth in gas production and exports, they would be able to push spot-market prices up, a strategy which could not possibly work with conventional TOP contracts (Boussena and Locatelli, 2013). In contrast, indexing such contracts to the price of oil products makes it impossible for a single player to influence prices, and eliminates the incentive to do so.…”

National institutional systems’ hybridisation through interdependence. The case of EU-Russia gas relations

“…Following Russia's refusal to sign the Energy Charter Treaty and the deepening of liberalization process of European gas industries, the analyses carried out implicitly focused on the confrontational implications of EU-Russia interdependence. These analyses put forward an "institutional hiatus" and the inability to define an energy workable governance structure (Godzimirski, 2015;Van Der Meulen, 2009;Romanova, 2014;Boussena and Locatelli, 2013). The question of the confrontation of national institutional system and the overlapping of rules in interdependence remains central in analysing UE-Russia relationship.…”