"Russia" as Global Economic Actor: Capabilities and Strategies of Energy Multinationals

The project looks at Russian world market integration from the angle of its biggest energy corporations. It investigates oil and gas majors such as Gazprom, Rosneft or LUKoil and their strategies on a global scale. The project focuses on their domesticall y generated capabilities and at their utilization at differently structured markets along the production chain. Specifically, it wants to clarify the nature of these companies, as it is disputed whether they act according to an economic logic or are subje ct to political interests of the Kremlin. The biggest challenge lies in researching the institutional boundaries of these corporations, i.e. in assessing the level of differentiation between state and economic actors. This shall be accomplished by investi gating personal networks that span across political, administrative and economic spheres as well as by analysing the moves of these actors in case studies. To account for global strategies, the acquisition strategies and the organisation of the production chain will be researched. The project hopes to establish a clearer picture of the interests and strategies of these corporations and their convergence or divergence with the interests of political and state actors. By providing a new and empirically grou nded assessment of Russian energy corporations the findings will have high policy relevance and may be useful for European business as well.