Is Russia’s Geopolitical Influence Waning in the Wake of the Shale Gas Boom?

The Washington Post
published a must-read
report this morning on the decline of Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned natural
gas company.

Gazprom has long been Moscow’s instrument of choice for
exerting influence over former Soviet bloc states in Eastern Europe, like the Urkaine, that have been
moving too close to the West. But that could all be changing as a result of
major structural shifts in global natural gas production, with hydraulic
fracking jumping from the United States to Eastern Europe.

Last week, The Wall
Street Journal reported that Central
and Eastern European energy companies are exploring joint ventures with
Western companies in order to develop the region’s potential shale gas
resources. The move by these Central and Eastern European countries is in part
driven by the need to diversify their own natural gas supply so that they are
not as easily held hostage to Russian influence. In recent years, for example,
Russia has used disputes over transit fees with countries like the Ukraine as
the basis for cutting of gas supply during peak winter months.

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www.cnas.org