Russian fossil fuel production in the Arctic: implications for EU energy security

• Main Author: Thompson, Evan William Edward
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Arctic politics; 1959.1/1133796; thesis(doctorate); Energy politics; ethesis-20141215-155047; monash:148859; 2014; Restricted access; European union; Russia; Arctic; Climate change; Law of the Sea
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4225/03/58a52d8ea8b3e; https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Russian_fossil_fuel_production_in_the_Arctic_implications_for_EU_energy_security/4657903

The EU-Russia energy relationship is a core aspect of their relationship, and one which has faced difficulties and tensions in recent years, characterized by mutual dependence of security of supply and security of demand. However, Russia has shown itself willing to use energy as a tool of foreign policy, creating vulnerabilities for the EU and individual Member States’ energy security. In recent years, the Arctic has emerged as an increasingly important area of energy politics. The littoral states seek to expand their sovereignty over an extended continental shelf and the suspected 22% of remaining undiscovered oil and gas reserves to be found there. These dynamics encapsulate the nexus between the Arctic, energy security and climate change but have remained insufficiently analysed. This thesis has contributed to the body of knowledge by establishing whether Russian Arctic energy projects would be beneficial or detrimental to EU energy security, given the current relationship. Using Andrew Moravscik’s liberal preference formation theory, and Richard Sakwa’s characterization of the Russian government as a ‘dual state’, the thesis has adopted an approach to energy security analyses not seen in the literature. It conceives of the EU, its Member States, and Russia as actors whose interests change in accordance with the dominant preferences within their policy-making structures. Simultaneously, it highlights the vastly different decision-making structures in place within the EU and the Kremlin and the resultant discrepancies in policy-making and coherence on internal and external aspects of energy policy. The thesis demonstrates that whilst Russia pursues greater expansion of Arctic fossil fuel production, the EU is experiencing a dramatic change in its Internal Energy Market (IEM), with greater levels of competition, integration and a diversifying, less fossil-fuel dependent energy mix. It also points to an important trend in the Arctic of abiding by the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ...