Natural gas diplomacy of Russia with the EU and Turkey: political and security versus economic and environmental dimensions

Download

index.pdf

Date

2016

Author

Tosun, Kürşad

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

287
views

196
downloads

Energy relations among Turkey, Russia and the EU are very complex. In terms of natural gas, Russia wishes to secure its strong supplier status on Europe and Turkey, while the EU strives for diversity in gas pipeline routes and supply security. On the other hand, Turkey aims to strengthen its status as a transit country, at least preferably as a ‘hub’, and also seeks for diverse gas supplies. In recent years, Turkey was able to overcome difficult and sensitive political situations with successful maneuvers using its unique geopolitical advantages; and acceded to consent Russia to use its Exclusive Economic Zone in the Black Sea where South Stream Natural Gas Pipeline would cross. However, the EU blocked the South Stream Project and Russia has an intention to divert the route of the project towards Turkey. Moreover, Turkey has succeeded in converting the Turkish Section of the Nabucco Project into the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Project (TANAP) together with Azerbaijan, to contribute to the energy security and energy supply diversification policy of the EU in order to decrease the dependence on Russia by including Caspian and probably Middle Eastern (Iraq) natural gas reserves. TANAP will be extended to Italy from Greece via the Trans Adriatic Project (TAP). Contrary to the arguments which emphasize the importance of financial, economic and environmental feasibility of these gas pipeline projects, this thesis argues that political and security dimensions play a more influential role in determining the prospects of the realization of the projects. Therefore, this thesis is based on the ‘political neoclassical realist approach to international relations’ framework.

Subject Keywords

Natural gas, Natural gas pipelines, Natural gas pipelines, Natural gas pipelines

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12620021/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/25679

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

European Union's natural gas trade with Russia : competing priorities of supply security and supply diversification Aydın, Ayşe Esra; Tanrısever, Oktay Fırat; Department of Eurasian Studies (2012) This thesis examines the bilateral relations of European Union and Russia in terms of energy trade. The main question of this thesis is whether European Union could realize its energy strategies of supply security and supply diversification in its natural gas trade with Russia. The main argument of this thesis is; Russia has been undermining the EU’s energy strategy, by using the contradictions between the EU’s energy strategy priorities of supply security and supply diversification. Emphasizing the signifi...
NATURAL GAS INFRASTRUCTURE EXPANSIONS IN TURKEY: ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY AND A COST COMPARISON WITH PV INVESTMENTS Mansız, Bilge; Akınoğlu, Bülent Gültekin; Kat, Bora; Department of Earth System Science (2021-8-03) Turkey, from 1980s on, has greatly invested in urban usage of natural gas, which is mostly imported. Alongside urban usage, natural gas is now widely consumed for electricity generation and industry. Beginning with 2014, even remote towns are also started to be supplied with natural gas. While there are many environmental and societal advantages of natural gas consumption over coal and fuel-oil, it can be argued that natural gas supply of remote areas is mostly due to social or political concerns. Natural g...
External and internal aspects of Azerbaijan’s energy policy : Europeanization process and its limitations Taytaş Öztürk, Özlem; Tanrısever, Oktay Fırat; Department of Eurasian Studies (2013) The thesis examines the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union in the context of energy cooperation. The main research question of the thesis is to what extent Azerbaijan’s domestic and external energy policies are compatible with the European Union’s rules and regulations. The main argument of the thesis is that although Azerbaijan is compatible with the European Union externally, the country has largely opted for pursuing domestic energy policies which clearly differ from the Europe...
Turkey’s energy security and its energy cooperation with the European Union and Russia Taşan, Fatma; Tanrısever, Oktay Fırat; Department of Eurasian Studies (2008) This thesis analyzes Turkey’s energy security and its energy cooperation with the European Union and Russia. The thesis argues that Turkey’s energy cooperation with Russia and the European Union’s energy dialogue between Russia contradict with Turkey’s claim to be an exclusive energy corridor between the Caspian Sea region and the European Union. The first part of the thesis deals with the energy security issue in terms of the diversification of energy routes and pipeline politics. In the second part, Turke...
Importance of natural gas reserves for Turkmen economy Kerimov, Mergen; Ege, Aylin; Department of Economics (2015) Turkmenistan became a sovereign state in 1991 and since then it has been pursuing a market based economic policy. As a result of massive energy reserves, extractive sectors and specifically natural gas sector of Turkmenistan have been the driving force of its sustained and high economic growth so far. This study examines the importance of natural gas reserves for Turkmen economy and derives policy recommendations for having sustained export revenues and high economic growth. In doing so, future demand for T...

Citation Formats

K. Tosun, “Natural gas diplomacy of Russia with the EU and Turkey: political and security versus economic and environmental dimensions,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2016.