The obstacles in the way of stabilising the Russian oil model

Abstract

This article deals with the current change of the institutional and organisational framework of the Russian oil industry. Regarding this evolution, the main characteristic is the increasing involvement of national oil companies in upstream activities. The aim is to explain this reorganisation by relying on the New Institutional Economics framework. These theoretical works highlight that institutional environment and governance structures complement each other. We argue that the current reorganisation is an attempt to increase the coherence of the institutional arrangements governing transactions between the Russian state and private oil companies.

Energy institutional and organisational changes in EU and Russia: Revisiting gas relations

“…From the angle of institutional complementarity (North, 2005), it can be considered that the aim of the strategies adopted by Russia to reorganize the hydrocarbons sector is to define a model that is consistent with the country's institutional environment. This environment is characterized by the ineffectiveness of certain market institutions -the fiscal regime, contractual arrangements, property rights, and so on (Rossiaud, Locatelli, 2009). Two approaches can be identified here.…”

EU-Russia trading relations: the challenges of a new gas architecture

“…The model for the organization of the gas industry, underpinned by the imposition of the EU energy acquis, would involve complex, large-scale changes to the structure of the Russian gas sector. But such changes are ill suited to Russia's economic and institutional environment, particularly due to the inefficiency of certain institutions such as taxation, contracting and property rights (Rossiaud and Locatelli, 2009). From this point of view, the "Gazprom model", a hierarchical type of governance structure, is the organizational and institutional form that enables nonmonetary relations and low energy prices to be best managed.…”

Economics Performance and Institutional Economics in Poland After 1989

“…5 So, the state also needed to create new “rules of the game,” and the informal and formal institutions that would make sure that those rules are followed (Wojtyna 2000a, 2000b; Staniszkis 2007). What is more important is that the environment and governance structures complement each other in any sector of industrial production (Rossiaud and Locatelli 2009). 6…”

“…6 6 This issue is highlighted in an article by Rossiaud and Locatelli (2009), who deal with the current change of the institutional and organizational framework of the Russian oil industry. Regarding this evolution, the main characteristic is the increasing involvement of national oil companies in upstream activities.…”