Russia: Why gas market can’t remain the same

In the next few days, the Presidential Commission on the Fuel and Energy Sector will discuss what to do about the Russian gas industry. As expected, Rosneft will propose some radical reforms, which includes the separation of the gas transportation system from Gazprom and the liberalization of gas exports. The Kommersant has found out why these fundamental questions are raised again after more than ten years of silence, and whether it is possible to solve them in the interests of not only the independent gas producers, but also Gazprom.

Tomorrow the first for time in 1.5 years a meeting of the Presidential Commission on the Fuel and Energy Complex is scheduled. The official date hasn’t yet been accounced, but, according to sources of the Kommersant, the event is in the schedules of the officials. The agenda is also not disclosed, however the interlocutors of the Kommersant say that two major issies are going to be raised - "the situation on the world oil market" and "the sale of energy resources for export in rubles". But the industry players hope that the question of the regulation in the gas industry will be also raised. On the results of the last meeting, Vladimir Putin instructed the members to prepare the concept of the internal gas market, but thisjob, along with about 70% of other tasks, remains unfulfilled. The reason is that the concept needs to address a number of fundamental questions of the industry's development, the position of the top three players - Gazprom on the one hand, with Rosneft and Novatek on the other hand - are radically different.