The Barents Observer discusses The great global energy shift could push Moscow towards plastics production on Arctic tundra. Russia’s powerful petroleum industry feels a mounting pressure from alternative energy sources, and strong voices now say the country’s vast natural gas resources in the Arctic should be used in petrochemical.
There are almost endless natural gas resources in the Russian Arctic, but ultimately demands will shrink and markets vanish. The country’s powerful oil and gas industry now appears to gradually grasp what could end in economic disaster for the hydrocarbon-dependent nation.
Oil and natural gas account for more than half of Russian exports and natural gas alone amounts to more than $40 billion of annual revenues. A major share of that export is likely to vanish as main importer European Union succeeds in reaching its 2030 target of 60 percent cut in carbon emissions.
The rapid change in international energy markets was an underlying key element in Tuesday’s meeting on the development of petrochemical industry between President Putin and top energy sector representatives.