This paper explores from a regional perspective the distorted nature of trade in energy products within the CIS countries. The persistence of pricing distortions, barter arrangements, and discriminatory access to pipelines, as well as failure to honor contracts, has disrupted and distorted energy exports to non-CIS countries, undermined energy sector reforms, and distorted investment decisions. The paper focuses on cross-border issues as an integral component of the wider problem of inefficient energy use within the CIS. Several policy recommendations are proposed, including measures to foster greater competition, reduce state involvement, and promote regional cooperation.

This book provides an overview of the gas industry and markets in the CIS. This region's strategic importance as one of the largest gas producers has largely been ignored- with the exception of Russia. The book is comprised of 10 country chapters, covering production, decision-making and regulation, domestic market reform, and trade issues.

With frequent discoveries of energy resources in remote and undeveloped areas, the importance of transnational oil and gas pipelines is set to grow ever more prominent. This study dissects the diplomacy and bargaining power of the transit country and the shifting economic relations involved in cross-border energy transportation.

A volume on the pricing of gas in international trade. Gas accounts for around 25% of global energy demand and international gas trade is growing rapidly. The book covers the development of international gas pricing in all regions of the world where gas is traded, and considers whether gas could become a global market.

This first issue of IMF Staff Papers for 2005 contains 7 papers that discuss: whether output recovered after the Asian crisis; the value of a country's trading partners to its own economic growth; whether interdependence is a factor in understanding the spread of currency crises; can remittance payments from expatriates be a reliable source of capital for economic development?; total factor productivity; designing a VAT for the energy trade in Russia and Ukraine; and lastly, a discussion of the reasons for central bank intervention in ERM-I since 1993

The Russian State and Russian Energy Companies analyses the development of relations between the state and five major energy companies, and how this shaped Russia’s foreign policy in the post-Soviet region. The book argues that the development of Russia’s political economy mattered for foreign policy over the quarter of a century from 1992 to 2018. Energy companies’ roles in institutional development enabled them to influence foreign policy formation, and they became available as tools to implement foreign policy. The extent to which it happened for each company varied with their accessibility to the Russian state. Institutional development increased state capacity, in a way that strengthened Russia’s political regime. The book shows how the combined power of several companies in the gas, oil, electricity, and nuclear energy industry was a key feature of Russian foreign policy, both in bilateral relationships and in support of Russia’s regional position. In this way, Russia’s energy resources were converted to regional influence. The book contributes to our understanding of Russia’s political economy and its influence on foreign policy, and of the formation of policy towards post-Soviet states.

Bazaars in Central Asia play a major role in regional and national chains of production and distribution. This type of cross-border trade benefits particularly the poor, by keeping prices low and creating jobs also for women.