The Russian natural gas industry in the mid-1990s

Russia's natural gas industry has been enormously successful over the past quarter century (gas production increased nearly eightfold between 1970 and 1990 and exports outside the territory of the former USSR increased by 33 times), an outward success that appears to have carried over into the difficult transition period of the last five years; output has remained almost stable despite unprecedented declines elsewhere in the economy. Still, in recent years, with the overall economic and political transformation, the situation has become far more unsettled for the industry. This paper identifies and analyzes emerging new forces associated with the economic transition and assesses their likely impact upon the natural gas sector in terms of production trends and related developments in demand (both in terms of internal consumption and exports).