Critical Evaluation of Energy Relations Between Russian Far East and Asia - Dissertation Example

?Critical evaluation of energy relations between Russian Far East and Asia (China & Japan) post 2000 Introduction Russian energy policy between 1991-2000 Russia with a huge resource base of oil and natural gas occupies a position of international importance in the global energy sector. Russia occupying around 30 percent of the world’s total gas reserves becomes the largest distributor of the same in the global landscape. Russia also occupies the world’s second position in the segment of oil production. The country holding around 10 percent of the total global oil resources stands eighth in world. During the period of the 1990s the government of the country did not directly control the large number of oil resources and industries in Russia. Rather big business tycoons who maintained a strong relation with the Russian Government officials controlled these industries. The Russian government during the period ranging from 1995 to 2000 endeavored to take decisive steps to bring about reforms in the country’s energy policies, which failed to get fulfilled owing to poor performances of the Russian economy. However the gradual revival of the economy after the 1999 period led the Russian government formulate an energy strategy till the 2020 period. This strategy aims at augmenting the supply of energy to meet the global demand. Further, the strategy aims at reducing the dependence of natural gas from around 50 percent during the 1990 period to around 42 percent during 2020. Rather the strategy focused on increasing the share of coal in energy generation from 16 percent in 1998 to around 23 percent during 2020. These policy directions along with focus on nuclear energy generation are expected to draw huge investments of around $700 billion by the 2020 period (Woehrel, 2009, pp.1-2; Russian Energy Survey, 2002, p.23). Russia’s Energy Policy towards China and Japan post 2000. In the field of energy development, the two countries Russia and China started their cooperation from the period of the late 1950s with Russia rendering technological knowhow for developing the oil industry in China. With the emergence of the 1990 period several government and energy agencies in both countries figured the laying down of gas pipelines between themselves as a feasible idea. With the signing of the ‘Treaty of Friendship’ during 2001 the expectation of energy collaboration between Russia and China gained further ground. The directions took shape under Vladimir Putin’s leadership after the 2001 period with the decision taken by the two countries to construct a joint pipe line for transmitting oil. Exports of oil by Russia to China augmented through different routes from 3 million in 2002 to 16 million during the period of 2006. This clearly reflects the growing interest of Russia on exporting oil to China which gained growth after the 2005 period. The construction period for the gas pipeline laid at 2008 failed owing to failure of price agreements between Russia and China. During 2006, Putin further announced the extension of gas resources to China along the Serbian border. (Eder, Speed & Korzhubaev, 2009,pp.219-2224, 240-242). The energy policy of the Putin government became an area of higher influence by the Japanese diplomats in trying to get the best out of it. The Japanese diplomats desired the map for the oil pipeline to be set from Angarsk to Nakhodka which would be beneficial to the Japanese region. Japan considered the above move a strategic importance for it would reduce their dependence on oil resources of the Middle East and also strengthen its relationship with Moscow (Amalia, 2006.p.3, 7). Trend of Energy Uses in China and Japan The advent of China in the World Trade Organization augmented the country’s use of energy resources, which gained growth at the rate of 71.5 percent during the period ranging from 2001 to 2006. The region of China during the period of 2003 consumed around 31 percent of the total coal energy in the world. Further, China accounted for 7.6 percent of the global oil consumption and around 1.2 percent in the consumption of gas resources. During the 2005 period, China accounted for around 14.7 percent of world’s primary energy resources. Further, the region stands to be the highest user of coal resources in the world (Sheehan & Sun, 2007, p.2; Crompton & Wu, n.d., p.2). Similarly, Japan has also showed a rise in demand for electrical, gas and fuel energy resources. Due to the rise in demand for energy consumption the sales trend for electricity is expected to increase by 5.5 percent in the 2010 period. For gas resources used in domestic needs the sales is expected to rise by 6.2 percent (Suehiro, 2010.pp.2-3). Energy Policy of China and Japan towards Russia China recognizing Russia’s natural resource base jointly collaborated with it to draw in huge amount of gas resources by the setting of pipelines. Joint collaboration between the two countries led to the conceptualization of the setting of the oil pipeline from Siberian to Chinese region during 2005. Extensive collaboration also helped China in getting access to crude oil from Russia based on agreed prices. Further, Russia is also helping China in the construction of Nuclear Power units in many provinces. Moreover, the spread of electrical energy in China also owes a lot to Russia for generating needed technology and financial resources (Yishan, 2000, pp.2-4). Russia in the light of Japan’s energy policy has been identified as a promising supplier of coal and natural gas resources to it. Japan’s energy policy focuses on the access to Russian oil fields in Siberia as a key alternative to Middle East countries. Focusing on the construction of the gas and oil refineries in Sakhalin the Japanese government during the period of 2005 helped Russia through a stream of potential investments. Furthermore, the energy policy formularized in Japan also promised on drawing around 3 million tones of Liquid Natural Gas from the second gas reserve constructed in Sakhalin. This reserve was expected to commence its operation from the 2007 period. Thus, Russia, which once imposed threat to the Japanese region, was rather taken to be a region rendering strategic help in energy sector. (Bukh, n.d., pp.15-16). Literature Review Energy Sustainability The recent energy policy developments in the region of Russia look forward in developing a sustainable energy base in its economy. To this end, Tyan (2010) observes that the recent trends in the energy policy developments of the country aim at giving the energy sector a nationalistic look away from the private look during the Boris Yeltsin government. Further, the recent Russian government also aims at reducing the prices of oil and gas resources and focuses on the invitation of foreign funds and technological knowhow. Tyan (2010) states that such access to foreign funds and technological knowhow would help in conferring sustainability and efficiency to the country’s energy reserves. Further, the Russian government is focusing on reducing the legal and regulatory complications to help the foreign investors justly make investments in key sustainable and energy efficient areas. Tyan (2010) also mentions that apart from encouraging the development of nuclear and hydropower the country is rendering more focus on generation of renewable energy sources. In that, the country is looking forward to cultivate large amounts of energy from existing biomass resources. Development of sustainable energy resources also includes the development of wind and solar energy through improved technological assistance (Tyan, 2010). The production of energy in the region of Russia is greatly dependent on natural resources. This huge natural resource base helps the country to produce large amounts of sustainable and renewal energy streams in the near future. In this regard, Busarov, Fedorova & Safonov (2001) observe that Russia alone produces various forms of renewable energy systems like energy generated from biomass, wind and tidal power. Further the country also focuses on generation of electricity from solar and other fossil deposits. The country further focuses on the increased use of these renewable energy systems as power drivers in small industries. This practice would help the region to conserve a huge amount of fossil resources, save the environment from undue pollution and thereby would help to create a sustainable natural environment. Busarov, Fedorova & Safonov (2001) mentions that use of organic waste products to produce biomass energy aims at reduction of pollution by not disposing of such waste. Through the use of solar energy the government helps the people living in remote areas to get access to electricity. Further the above the use of sea and wind currents helps Russia in promoting conservation of its natural resource base mainly composed of fossil resources. (Busarov, Fedorova & Safonov, 2001, pp. 251-255). Oil and Gas Resources The region of Russia hosts a huge reserve to a large base of natural resources pertaining to the oil and gas sectors. To this end, Bochkarev (2006) observes that major investors around the world are focusing on the huge bases of oil and natural gas in the region of Russia in order to make considerable investments in the country. Further, the presence of a large energy base helps in contributing around 25 percent to the gross domestic product of the country. Bochkarev (2006) further states that the investment potential of the oil sector to the Russian economy resulted to a huge figure of $7.7 billion during 2003. This amount was quoted to be thrice greater than the amount of investment made during the period of 1999. The rising investment trends helped the figure to reach an amount of $11 billion during the period of 2005. However, it was observed that more investments were needed to promote innovation in the energy sector of Russia (Bochkarev, 2006.pp.9, 11, 17-18). The presence of huge amount of natural resources in the economy of Russia triggered the need for strengthening the administration of such through state controlled measures. In this regard, Moe and Rowe (2008) observe that the leadership tenure of Vladimir Putin in the political landscape of the country emphasized the need of governmental control over the use of the natural resource base and on the profits generated through such. These huge resource base of oil and gas reserves were observed as ‘strategic resources’ whose management required the enactment of new legislations. Moe and Rowe (2008) state that during the period of April 2008 legislations were passed to protect the huge natural resources projects within the country of Russia from increased foreign intervention. The legislations passed stated that future foreign investments to be made in any sector would demand due permission from government authorities of the state. Moe and Rowe (2008) further observe in this direction that the legislations pertaining to the mineral resources of the country were also modified to confer a national significance. Modification of the legislation pertaining to mineral resources observed that deposits found of the order of 70 million tones and 50 billion cubic meters of oil and gas resources respectively would be observed as resource bases of ‘federal significance’. The resource bases found in offshore areas automatically falls in the area of ‘federal significance’. Thus Moe and Rowe (2008) observes that the power from the hands of private industries greatly vested during the Boris Yeltsin government to manage and use the large base of natural resources were totally taken over by the government. (Moe and Rowe, 2008, pp.1-2). Logging & Coal Russia accounts for a huge resource base for fossil fuels like coal. In this regard, Perovic and Orttung (2009) observe that according to an estimate made during the period of 2006 the region of Russia possesses the second largest reserve for coal in the world after the United States of America. The huge amount of coal reserves help the country in generating huge income through the activities like exporting coal to developed countries of the European region. Countries like United Kingdom and Germany are also hugely dependent on Russian coal reserves. Perovic and Orttung (2009) further state that the region of Russia in terms of global ranking stands as the ‘fifth largest producer and third largest exporter of coal’. However, the large amounts of coal industries in Russia are privately owned with less control of state ownership and management. Hence the new energy policies being framed under the administration of Vladimir Putin focus on generating state control over the coal reserves of the country. (Perovic and Orttung, 2009, pp.3-4, 34-36). However, the United States of America observed the increase of privatization efforts of the Russian Republic in case of coal industry. Lawson, (2002) observes that privatization in Russia had started from the period of 1990s causing change of ownership from public to private hands in case of many industries. However, such a practice had an exception for the cases of coal industry whose operation mainly depended on public hands. However, with the beginning of the 2000 AD the system started incorporating huge changes. Thus, Lawson (2002) states that with the coming of the 2001 period around 77 percent of the coal production was transferred to the hands of privately owned concerns. An expectation was drawn to this end that around the completion of the next year, 99 percent of the coal industries would be governed by private ownership (Lawson, 2002). The coal logging system is a modern scientific system based on radioactive technology, which logs the information of the carbon and other emissions during the process of coal formation. This system first came into use in the United States of America, which bears the key to its invention. To this end, Dixon (n.d.) the Chief Examiner of the system states that separate radioactive components like neutron and gamma ray emitting tubes are put inside the coal formation system through a borehole. The intensity of gamma ray and neutron emissions are captured and transmitted to a recording system, which measures the amount of emissions and makes steady comparisons. Dixon (n.d.) further states that the recording system on the basis of information received from the emission sources measures the amount of carbon emissions along with other components like sulfur and neutron focusing on the energy dimensions of the coal (Dixon, n.d.). Energy Policy of Russia The rise of the Vladimir Putin government during the 2000 period brought about some serious policy changes concerning the energy sector of the Russian economy. Main focus was rendered to the large amount of gas and oil reserves with other hydrocarbons and fossil fuels to make the economy energy efficient. Belyi (2010) states that the consumption demands of natural gas in the Russian economy started rising from the middle of the 1990 period. Consumption patterns of natural gas even surpassed the quantity meant for exports of the same to European and other Commonwealth Countries. Along with the above problem of conflict between consumer and export demand, Russia also falls short in becoming an energy efficient economy. Estimates reveal that in the area of carbon emissions, Russia ranked third in the world. Thus, Belyi (2010) observes that the key need for altering the energy policy of Russia would help in making the nation more energy efficient. Estimates made reflect that if efficiency is highly promoted it would indicate a huge savings of around 240 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Further need for policy changes in energy systems was for the effective liberalization for the markets of domestic use of natural gas. This change would help many other states to get access to the same. Changes made in the energy policy were also needed for promoting newer discoveries of potential gas reserves in Russia. Belyi (2010) further states that the oil energy sector of the Russian economy was also heading for a key policy change. The practice of increased privatization being offered to the oil fields made small companies to venture into the energy market. These small companies, which were quite financially inefficient, countered problems in opening up big fields for oil exploration and thus became redundant after some time. However, with the emergence of the Putin government during the 2003 period the industries operating in the oil energy sector were subjected to the policy of mergers and acquisitions. The amalgamation of the small oil-producing firms with the key concerns was expected to bring about market efficiency in the Russian economy pertaining to oil exploration. With regards to the gas sector of the Russian economy, Belyi (2010) observes that the policy changes focused on reducing the system of wastage of gas resources through the use of the previous wasted gas for domestic purposes. The energy policy changes brought about thus focuses on the creation of an internal market, which would lay stress for the sale of these, used gases in domestic areas. Expectations are raised that such an internal market would come into effect by the close of the 2014 period. Furthermore, Belyi (2010) states that the changes made in the energy policy would also endeavor to draw a differentiation between the old and new oil exploration fields in the country. This demarcation would help in drawing more amounts of investments from institutional and foreign investors. The transportation mechanisms for the new oil fields would be made more efficient to help in making effective price systems. The electrical energy sector was however subjected to fast policy changes. To this end, Belyi (2010) observes that between the periods ranging from 2001 to 2008 effective legislations were introduced for drawing necessary alterations to the electrical energy sector. A breakup of the total policy change period shows that from the period ranging from 2001 to 2003 policies were adopted to bring about the emergence of the wholesale market. Further with the emergence of the 2004 period a legislation focusing mainly on electrical energy was passed. Around the 2006 period separate legislations were passed for the management of the wholesale market and tariff rates were introduced whose expiry period was settled during 2011. Thus, Belyi (2010) states that all these policy regulations clubbed with a joint collaboration with the state government was expected to bring about efficiency in the energy markets in the coming future (Belyi, 2010, pp.2-4). The change in the energy policy of Russia also triggered the increased role of state intervention in the energy sector which was laid in private hands. To this end, the Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee (2007) states that from the period of 2003 the changes made in the Russian energy policy gave increased focus to the growth of state control and in curbing the power of both the domestic and foreign private companies. The effect of the resolutions that were passed led to the dissolution of private powers like Yukos in the oil sector whose property was forcibly taken over by the government. On the other hand, the power of state controlled units like Gazprom grew to become a monopoly power in the export sector of Russian energy economy. However, as the Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee (2007) observes that increased practice of transfer of private power to state control signifies the emergence of inefficiency in the market system and failure to the goals of a sustainable energy future. Vladimir Putin observed some key goals for bringing a change in the structure of its energy policies. Firstly, Putin desired to enact a more solid legislative and state controlled regulation process in the management of the energy sector. Secondly, Putin observed that increased government control over the energy sector would also strengthen Russia’s stand in the international market. (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Foreign Affairs Committee, 2007, p.57). Russia Far East Policy The Far East policy of Russia signified the extension of rapid energy collaboration with Far East nations like China, Japan, Korea, and many others. This extension of energy collaboration to these countries though conferred a civilian outlook yet Russia through the achievement of this policy desired to become an Asia power. To this end, Blank (2010) observes that Russia through the help of Siberia desired to extend its energy potential to Far East and Asia Pacific nations. Russia by the use of this process wanted to signify its Asian legacy. The Far East policy of Russia included the extension of technological and industrial collaboration to these nations along with exporting its abundant natural energy resources. However, Blank (2010) states that the success of the Far East Policy taken by Russia seemed possible through the invitation of foreign investment by countries like Japan, South Korea and China. Hence, with the beginning of the 2009 period, China started funding heavily big energy projects in the Russian Far East landscape. Another, Far East nation that also desired to extend financial collaboration to Russian Far East projects is Japan. However, Japan’s assistance to Russian projects rendered a note of caution for the Russian government. Blank (2010) states that Japan disagreed to provide financial assistance to the Siberian projects of Russia owing to the ongoing geo-political dispute over the Russian dominance over the Kurile Islands. Japan at a later stage showed interests in collaborating to the development of the Pacific gas and oil base in order to develop their relations with Russia. During the 2009 period, the Russian government in recognition of Japanese collaboration to the Sakhalin-2 project promised of continuous energy supply by Gazprom to Japan. Blank (2010) further observes that both the North and South Korea were interested of getting gas resources from Russia through the creation of a pipeline running between the nations. Further, the construction of a petrochemical and Liquid Natural Gas plant in these regions with the pipeline project was planned to be completed within the period of 2015 (Blank, 2010, pp. 5-10, 13). The Russian Far East region for its diversified energy base gains the attention of key Asian players like China, Japan and Korea. Elaborating the geographical status of the Russian Far East territory, Kalashnikov (1997) observes that the total area encompassed by the Russian Far East region amounts to around 6.2 million square kilometers, which stands at 36.4 percent of the total Russian territory. This Russian Far East region is fed with a huge bounty of natural resources, which is being gradually explored. The Russian Far East nation owns pride in being the supplier of natural resources to Russia for a long period. Kalashnikov (1997) states that the vast amount of natural resources in the Russian Far East nation compose of 8.9 billion tones of oil, 24 trillion cubic meter of natural gas, and around 1.2 trillion tones of coal. Moreover, the region because of its geographic characteristic also becomes the home ground for huge amount of non-conventional energy sources like wind, tidal and solar energy (Kalashnikov, 1997, pp.1-2). Chinese Energy Sector While evaluating the energy sector of the Chinese region, Fung (2009) states that the region, which had largely relied on coal resources for generation of energy, is moving over to renewable energy systems for sustaining a cleaner environment. Regarding the oil sector, China during the period ranging from 2001 to 2008 increased its oil production from 3.31 million barrels to 3.74 million barrels on an average basis. The total amount of natural gas production in China ranges to around 1.88 trillion cubic meters. Further, the consumption patterns of natural gas have risen from 20.3 billion cubic meters during 1998 to 67.3 billion cubic meters in 2007. Fung (2009) further observes that during the period of 2007 around 69 percent of the country’s energy demand was met by the production of huge quantities of coal. The renewable energy resources composing of wind and solar energy account for around 1 percent of the total capacity installed in the region. Moreover in China the wind energy alone produced 12.2 Giga Watts of energy during 2008, which rose from 352 Mega Watts during 2000. In case of solar energy China during the 2007 period produced around 16.7 percent of the global solar energy potential accounting for 450 Mega Watts. Fung (209) also states that China generated around 1.34 Kilo Watt Hours of Electricity during 2007 (Fung, 2009, pp.5-6, 12, 18, 21-22). Thus, the region of China has stock of a diversified base of energy resources. Energy Security of China Talking about the issue of energy security of China, Liu (2001) observes that the government of China gives increased focus on the issue of energy security to achieve a quadruple of the Gross Domestic product earned during 2000 in the 2020 period. To achieve this growth the Chinese government is focusing on activities like reducing energy consumption, pollution and generating efficiency. Liu (2001) states that around 90 percent of the energy demands in China are met through the domestic production of energy resources. However, a broad picture shows China’s ongoing fight to meet the rising energy demand. The oil consumption rising by 9 million tones on an annual basis reached 177 million tons during 2005. To satisfy such rising consumption trend the production needs to be increased by 10 percent of the current level. China sets to strategize its per-capita oil consumption and national consumption levels at 2 to 2.5 tons and 3 to 3.75 billion tons by the end of 2050. Liu (2001) further observes that China has huge reserves of coal to meet the increasing demand and reduce the domestic price structure. Moreover, the country carries on strategic energy partnerships with many countries like Russia and Iran to achieve energy sustainability (Liu, 2001, pp.1-9). Japanese Energy Sector Elucidating the energy sector of Japan, Pew (n.d.) observes that total amount of investments made in the Japanese energy sector amounted to $1 billion during the 2009 period. In the field of solar energy production, Japan is conferred the leader. The total production of solar energy amounts to 1.7 Giga Watts in Japan. Again, the total amount generated from renewable energy sources amounted to 12.9 Giga Watts during the 2009 period. Pew (n.d.) states that Japan by the close of 2020 period targets the production of 5000 Mega Watts of wind and 28,000 Mega Watts of solar energy (Pew, n.d.). Energy Security of Japan The energy security of Japan endeavors to recognize energy as a key strategic commodity and not simply a domestic product. To this end, Evans (2006) observes that the key to generation of optimal energy resources must be viewed from a strategic viewpoint in meeting long-term goals rather than depending on short-term contexts. Further the strategic view of energy security owes its importance to the rapidly changing energy scenario in the global sphere. Evans (2006) states that the changing scenario for the demand of natural resources like oil has made Japan second to China. During the period of 2005 the demand for oil in Japan was around 5.9 million barrels. However, the demand in China during that period surpassed the Japanese demand by the consumption of 400,000 barrels on an average basis. This growth trend is expected for China to reach to 11 million barrels during 2020 while for Japan it is expected to get reduced to 5.5 million barrels. Similarly, Evans (2006) also observe that in the sector of natural gas the demand which was around 50 percent during 2002 would continually fall in the coming fifteen years whereas the demand for the same is expected to rise in countries like China. Further projections reflect that during the period of 2020, Japan would only account for 19 percent of the global gas market (Evans, 2006, pp. 1-2, 10-11). References 1. Woehrel, S. (2009). Russian Energy Policy Toward Neighboring Countries. 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Available at: http://oldsite.nautilus.org/archives/papers/energy/KalashnikovPARES.PDF (accessed on January 20, 2011) 21. Fung, P. (2009). China’s Energy Sector: A Clearer View. Available at: http://www.kpmg.at/de/files/China_energy.pdf (accessed on January 20, 2011) 22. Liu, X. (2001). China’s Energy Security and Its Grand Strategy. Available at: http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/publications/pab/pab06chinasenergy.pdf (accessed on January 20, 2011) 23. Pew, (n.d.). “G-20 Clean Energy Profile-Japan”. Available at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Fact_Sheets/Clean_Energy_Economy/Japan_profile.pdf?n=3341(accessed on January 20, 2011) 24. Evans, P. (2006). Japan. Retrieved on January 20, 2011 from: http://www.brookings.edu/fp/research/energy/2006japan.pdf (accessed on January 20, 2011) Read More