Caspian Report - Issue: 08 - Fall 2014

The analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian
conflict calls for a comprehensive approach
that encompasses the energy equation.
ABSTRACT
This study discusses the consequences
of Russia’s annexation of
Crimea in relation to the legal status
of the peninsula’s Black Sea offshore
area (continental shelf and exclusive
economic zone), with a focus on hydrocarbon
exploration and production
activities. The first section provides
an overview of the geopolitical
and energy security background
to the ongoing crisis and to Russia-
EU relations. Thereafter, the paper
analyses the legal avenues Russia is
likely to take in its attempt to consolidate
sovereignty on Crimea. Finally,
the study tackles the probable status
of the maritime border with Romania,
and the economic activities in
the adjacent Romanian blocs.
INTRODUCTION
The analysis of the Russian-Ukrainian
conflict calls for a comprehensive
approach that encompasses the energy
equation. In line with the trends
that emerged as a consequence of
the petroleum crises of the second
half of the twentieth century, and
especially from 1973, the current
century has been characterised by
a more structured and coordinated
feedback dynamic in terms of energy-consumption,
developed countries
to the geopolitical challenges
promoted by exporting-countries.
At the global level, industrialised
countries affected by the consequences
of the world crisis are pursuing
an energy independence and
energy security crusade, focusing on
the identification and exploitation of
domestic resources, and on the consolidation
of several profitable and
secure supply routes. The shale gas
“revolution” has pushed the United
States forward in this regard, and
has also had transformative effects
upon Europe’s gas markets. On the
other hand, as China has emerged
as a major energy consumer, the
geopolitical dynamic has become increasingly
complex. Distrusting the
capacity of international markets to
ensure its energy security, Beijing
has pursued direct involvement in
Africa’s extractive industries via its
national companies.
In European context, the past decade
has seen a dynamics of EU-Russia
energy relations. On one hand,
the EU is Russia’s main supplier,
and despite the institutionalisation
of the energy dialogue, the lack of
a common strategic approach and
the risk of a new “gas war” remains
a key challenge. On the other hand,
the security of energy supply is a
key component of Russia’s security
policy, as expressly stated in the Energy
Security Strategy of the Russian
Federation in 2009.
Over the last decade, Russia has
sought unsuccessfully to bring coordinate
its “zero-sum” approach
to foreign energy policy with the institutionalisation
of the energy dia-
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CASPIAN REPORT, FALL 2014