The Geopolitical Importance of Russian Gas

Abstract

The relationship between geopolitics and energy security is one of the important political and academic topics. Russia ranked first as the largest reserve of natural gas in the world and second as a producer after the United States in 2021, with a production of 638.5 billion cubic meters. The revenues from natural gas exports are of geoeconomic importance to Russia's national budget and geopolitical importance to maintaining its security and dominance in its spheres of influence. Therefore, Russia has strengthened its strategy to support the country's hydrocarbon resources sector.

The study aims to reveal the relationship between natural gas and the geography of Russia by studying the size of this resource, its areas of existence, its availability, the costs of its production, and alternative transportation methods, as well as the extent of the connection between regional and global markets, in order to reach its geopolitical importance to Russia, using the analytical approach.