Russia’s Oil and Gas Pivot to Asia: State Politics, Economic Development and Market Dynamics

In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s rise in 2000 saw a consolidation of state control and an increased state grip on strategic sectors of the economy, especially hydrocarbon. As is well known, Russia is a large producer of oil and gas, and is considered as an “energy power”. As such, it has been the intention of the Putin administration to make use of endowments of natural resources to facilitate economic development, with the necessary modernization and technological advancement. Key actors for this endeavor are state, and state-owned companies as well as private companies.

To achieve the goal, an integration with the emerging Asian markets has become crucial. It has been stressed that Russia’s way forward is to expand its energy market to the Asia-Pacific. In fact, the eastward shift in energy policy has been a conscious policy development since Putin came to power. Accordingly, the Russia’s political and business actors have set its goal to achieve a deeper interaction and integration into the growing Asian markets.

Against this backdrop, this paper analyses the interaction of Russia’s oil and gas industry and growing Asian markets, focusing on so- called Russia’s oil and gas pivot to Asia. I will first discuss key driving forces behind Russia’s oil and gas pivot to Asia. Then I will identify key players, both state-owned firms and privately-owned firms and the roles they play in this undertaking. And finally, I will analyse key features of changing market dynamics and the institutional environment in which these key players interact.

(Panel session at the Annual Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) The New School – New York City, USA – 27 June 2019)