Energy security over energy transition in the case of Yamal LNG, Russia : a neo-Gramscian analysis of energy power

• Main Author: Lähteenmäki, Lauri
• Other Authors: Helsingin yliopisto, Bio- ja ympäristötieteellinen tiedekunta, Bio- ja ympäristötieteellinen tiedekunta, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Helsingfors universitet, Bio- och miljövetenskapliga fakulteten, Bio- och miljövetenskapliga fakulteten
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Helsingin yliopisto 2020
• Subjects: energiaturvallisuus; energiatransitio; poliittinen valta; Venäjä; Arktinen alue; Yamal LNG; energy security; energy transition; political power; Russia; Arctic; ympäristömuutos ja -politiikka (YMP501); Environmental change and policy (YMP501); miljöförändring och -politik (YMP501); Climate change; Northern Sea Route
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/320741

Russia’s energy security is considered to rest on hydrocarbon exports, as the country’s economy and political regime depends on revenue generated in energy trade. Today, Russia faces a problem, as interests toward climate change mitigation and renewable energy have increased globally. Particularly the EU, Russia’s primary gas trade partner, seeks to reduce fossil fuel consumption due to its climate policy targets and concerns over energy security. Via the Yamal LNG project, Russia begun to diversify its markets toward East Asia in 2017. The project is expected to spur energy infrastructure development in the Arctic region, as it ships liquefied natural gas (LNG) along the Northern Sea Route. This study finds out how the stakeholders of the Yamal LNG project consider it to connect with the energy security of Russia, to which climate change mitigation poses a potential threat. Since securitization of energy is the result of a social process where political actors contest over the meanings of energy, the study also looks at whose interests the Yamal LNG project actually secures as “energy security”, and how that concept becomes projected as a general national interest, instead of having energy transition among the top objectives of energy policy. Neo-Gramscian analytical approach and frame analysis are used to deliver results from a data consisting of 11 research interviews and 40 archival sources. The stakeholders make sense of Yamal LNG’s relation to energy security and energy transition through four frames, which reflect distinct interest groups. The stakeholders appeal on others by utilizing the frames discursively, as they strategically contest over the meanings of energy. Ultimately, a hegemonic group consisting of the Russian state, JSC Yamal LNG shareholders, industrial organizations, and fossil energy lobbies determines the meanings of Yamal LNG’s production as general interests. Subordinate groups, including environmental NGOs and local indigenous residents, consent as they face combinations of ...