On 12 and 13 November 2014, the University of Aberdeen Centre for Energy Law organised a workshop on the topic of "Environmental Protection and Security Aspects of Developing Russia's Arctic Energy Resources".
This event followed up on Rosneft’s recent announcement on successful oil exploration in the Russian Arctic, together with first shipments from Gazprom’s Prirazlomnoye field - developments that generated fundamental questions regarding the environmental integrity of oil and gas exploitation in the highly sensitive Arctic ecosystem.
Andrei Belyi's talk on the geopolitical dimension of Russian Arctic energy developments examined the impact of EU/US sanctions on the Rosneft- Exxonmobil Arctic deal taking a historical perspective and highlighting the specificities of the Russian upstream energy industry. The interventions by Nengye Liu, Greg Gordon, Olivia Woolley and Boute/Shapovalova examined the extent to which the EU – as one of the main consumers and importers of fossil fuel – has a responsibility regarding the ecological impact associated to the production of the energy products it consumes. The presentations dealt with the regulatory influence that the EU can exercise to safeguard the ecological integrity of Arctic oil developments.
