May 14, 2010
Russia's Recent Initiatives to Lift Restrictions for Foreign Investments in Oil and Gas
Over the past year Russia’s leaders have shown new interest in attracting foreign direct investment into the oil and gas sectors. President Dmitry Medvedev has called for a series of sweeping measures, to be unveiled later this spring. Yet the measures announced so far do not address the restrictive laws and procedures put in place between 2004 and 2008, which limit access by foreign investors and companies to oil and gas reserves of any significant size and which allocate oil and gas licenses preferentially to state-owned companies. CERA Senior Director Thane Gustafson comments on the background to the recent initiatives, and assesses the outlook for significant change. For more detailed analysis of this issue, see CERA Decision Brief, Reopening for Business? Russia's Debate Over Foreign Investment in Strategic Sectors, by Thane Gustafson and Vitaly Yermakov, March 2010.