Russia's oil pipeline strategy

Overview

Russia’s spat with Belarus over oil transit has highlighted an important turnaround in the situation and prospects of the Russian oil sector. In the first half of the present decade against the background of rapid oil output growth, the single biggest challenge to sustainability appeared to be export infrastructure bottlenecks. The position has now gone into reverse, with output now being the main challenge.

This shift casts light, in turn, on the hydrocarbons strategy of the Russian...