Ukraine-Russia Gas Disputes

a. Primary National Interest: Republic of Azerbaijan works to ensure sustained economic growth by protecting and exploiting proven oil reserves from deepwater Caspian Basin oilfields and its transport to growing western markets via the Baku-Tblilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil and associated South Caucasus (SCP) gas pipeline. Azerbaijan leverages this energy development to build strategic partnerships & ensure international attention for its independence, and attempt to influence attitudes toward the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) conflict.

The valuation process firms undergo when looking to acquire a company is very complex, but when a company, especially a foreign one, makes the conscious decision to enter another foreign market is even more complex and tricky. In this case three western oil firms the neophyte Philbro; the legacy Mobil; and, the middle weight Conoco all have to determine if and how they want to enter the newly open Russian Oil market. The Russian oil market is characterized as high risk for potentially high rewards. High risks include but are not limited to obsolete and poor infrastructure; murky and opaque governmental (and subsequently economic) policies; unreliable Russian geologic surveys; and, etc. Furthermore, Russian inflation is soaring and the

This therefore makes it one of the positive aspects of using this alternative source of energy. That is, the process has prevented America from using close to $350 to $450 billions spent on imported oil by extracting our own (Wilber, 2012). This money is therefore used in other areas such as the investment in wind and solar energy among others. Once these alternative energies are in check, natural gas will be used for other reasons such as transportation purposes or for energy efficiency, as it is a powerful energy

Ukraine has been an independent state since 1991 and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the two nations continued to hold close ties. In the past two decades, there have been several significant events affecting the balance of power between the two nations. One of the events was in December 1994 when Ukraine agreed to give up its substantial nuclear arsenal at Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurance. The condition of this agreement being Russia and other signing countries would issue an assurance against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. Just a few year later Russia also signed the Charter for European Security, the action “reaffirmed the inherent right

Since 2004 the UK has been a net importer of natural gas, as the North Sea reserves have been exploited and nearly exhausted. Today, ten years later, the UK has become even more dependent on foreign gas with over 50% of demand for gas satisfied by foreign supply (Gloystein, 2013). This increasing dependence on foreign countries is a worrying trend, due to the adverse effects it can have, which include being subjected to price shocks, supply shortages and manipulation both economically and politically. Energy insecurity has arisen through a lack of investment in other

There has been tons of contentions and conflicts in the second largest country in europe and while the news presents us all these ideas about what going there, the truth, as it always is, is much more complex. The recent turmoil in the Ukraine has brought up a lot of issues remembered in the cold war. Russia Annexing the crimean peninsula from the Ukraine scaring western powers, specifically the United States, into the old policy of Soviet containment and using any means to put negatives towards the “eastern block” preventing the spread of its influence. Although the United States and it NATO/European Union current policy’s towards the eastern block have attempted to contain this strong autocratic style of

Ukraine, once a totalitarian state in the USSR, is now being ravaged by civil war. This war has been fought between Ukrainian Nationalist and Pro-Russian supporters in the Donbass region. This rising unrest can be traced back to the Russian ties that run deep in its Government. This Russian influence is being used by President Putin to incite Rebellion in the eyes of Ukrainians, and it all starts with Ukrainian politics of party groups Svoboda and The Party of Regions

As the world gets heated up by Global Warming, the ice in the Arctic begins to melt more and more. Since the 1970’s the sea ice in the arctic has reduced by 25%. (Vargulis). Now that the ice is melting it has opened new spaces therefore new shipping routes, these new routes are the North Sea route and the North West route. (Sullivan). These new openings are the cause of more shipping. Underneath the arctic in the ocean lays 90 billion barrels of oil and 30% of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13% of untapped oil reserves. Since the discovery of the new shipping routes Russia and the United States have put more security on their sides to protect what they have. (Vargulis). This issue is an international geopolitical conflict since some land is a political dead zone and it does not belong to anybody which interests and affects many countries. The cleaning of the Arctic sea has created new energy opportunities to the countries that lay claim to its territories. What effect will this new energy source have on the countries surrounding the arctic and the international communities?

The crisis in Ukraine and Crimea’s recent accession to Russia are events that clearly highlight the underlying sources of conflict in global politics. While Russia sees its actions in Crimea as a “reunification” and the respect for the right of self-determination, the West views it as a threat to European security and a violation of territorial integrity. Crimea has been a debatable topic from the time it came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1783 during the reign of Catherine the Great. The justification then was similar to the reasoning being used by Vladimir Putin today. Catherine declared that she was protecting ethnic Russians in the region from the Ottoman Empire, much as Putin is claiming to protect Russians from Ukrainian

Russia’s legislature approved the forced transfer of certain fields to government-controlled firms. In 2006, Shell was forced to transfer an expansion project to Gazprom. That same year, concern over the possible revocation of the license to the Kovykta gas field and Gazprom’s ability to block construction of a pipeline to China, forced TNK-BP to sell its stake in the field. Gazprom purchased the stake for less than a third of its real value. The Russian government had also been known to both privatize or nationalize firms and rig auctions in order to favor government-controlled corporations.

In early 2014, Russia made the decision to conduct an illegal military intervention into Ukraine. It all began when there was a dispute over whether Ukraine should accept financial help from Russia or Europe, which then ascended into the ousting of the Ukrainian president and then invasion of Ukraine. More specifically, Russia began to taking over the Ukraine territory of the Crimean Peninsula through illegal use of force (Global Security, 2016). During that time, the Russian government voted to place Crimean’s into the Russian Federation, which had been rapidly accepted by the President of Russia himself, Vladimir Putin. Most of the Crimean population is ethnic Russians, although there are also the pro-Ukraine Tatar minorities that make

Russia's new strength is also based on its vast reserves of oil and natural gas, which as the price of crude exceeds $ 120 per barrel, give the country tremendous bargaining power, not only in its relations with countries directly dependent on its supplies as Ukraine, Germany and Hungary, but, in general, by the capacity of influence that give

The oil industry is one of great power that countries are invest in. Russia is one of the leading contenders in producing oil and exports the goods to various countries. With great resources comes great strength. Oil is of the utmost important to every country therefore, Russia has an upper hand in some respects. Moreover, the history behind the oil pipelines and how Russia connects to different countries allows for insight into the power they withhold politically and economically, and on the improvements that need to be made to continue growth in this industry.

Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) Stabilisation in Investment Contracts and Changes of Rules in Host Countries: Tools for Oil & Gas Investors Peter D Cameron ACIArb PhD (University of Edinburgh), LLB (Joint Honours) (University of Edinburgh) Professor of International Energy Law and Policy CEPMLP, University of Dundee, UK p.d.cameron@dundee.ac.uk FINAL REPORT 5 July 2006 © Copyright Peter D Cameron PDCameron/AIPN/Final Report. 5 July 2006

The Ukrainian chemical industry includes chemical and petrochemical businesses. Products produced in Ukraine include mineral fertilisers, non-organic acids, such as sulphuric acid, and sodium bicarbonate. The petrochemical industry also manufactures car and motor-cycle tyres, hoses, and consumer goods. While some of these items have applications in CW and CW decontamination, it is extremely unlikely that Ukraine is using them in this context given the absence of several other important components. State-owned enterprises account for less than 20 per cent of chemical industry enterprises but comprise over 30 per cent of the products. The remaining enterprises are owned collectively, with open and close joint-stock companies being the predominant form. Within the structure of the industry, asset- and energy-intensive basic chemistry enterprises are predominant.