The Energy Politics of the Post-Soviet States

Abstract

The post-Soviet region has the largest natural gas reserves in the world and large oil deposits. Besides Russia, which is well-known for its vast energy resources, there are also other important hydrocarbon-rich countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in the region. In the view of the growing global energy demand, the Caspian Sea Basin has recently become a central focal point of the major international players’ efforts to diversify their energy supplies. The USA, the EU and China struggle over control of oil and gas reserves of this area, which still stay to a large extent untapped. Furthermore, the post-Soviet region is a key region with regards to the EU’s energy security. One fourth of the EU’s natural gas supplies come from Russia, while about 80 percent of the Russian gas to Europe is transported through Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian gas disputes of 2006 and 2009 has already had an impact on the EU’s energy policy, forcing it to reconsider its external relations with its Eastern neighbours (i.e. Eastern Partnership with its focus on energy security) and to accelerate the implementation of the internal energy security measures.

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