Gas to Europe; The Strategies of Four Major Suppliers

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. vii, [3], 278 pages. Minor DJ wear and soiling. Tables. Maps. Figures. Notes. Key Milestones in the Develoopment of the Eurpoean Gas Industry. Index. Corner of one page creased. Published for the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Contributores include ali Aissaoui, Ulrich Bartsch, Malcolm Peebles and Jonathan Stern as well as one of the Editors (Ian Wybrew-Bond). This book analyses the strategies of four major national companies, Gazprom, Sonatrach, Statoil, and Gasunie, that supply the expanding European gas market. The strategies of these giant corporations are examined in the relevant historical perspective. The analysis concludes by considering future developments of the market and of the supply policies of these main players. Robert Emile Mabro CBE (26 December 1934 - 2 August 2016) was an academic who specialized in oil and energy issues. He founded the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and in the late 1990s brokered a historic production cut between OPEC and its rivals in the wake of a slump in the price of oil. This initiative led to joint production cuts in late 1998 and early 1999, the effect of which was that by mid-2000 the price of crude oil had recovered to more than $30 a barrel. Lajous later recalled, "Robert Mabro played a key, if unaccredited, role in the secret negotiations that brought together these three countries." Mabro himself later suggested that OPEC should change its logo to a tea-bag "because it only works in hot water." After a career in Shell, principally in its international natural gas business, Ian Wybrew-Bond became a gas adviser to the Institute. Gas to Europe: The Strategies of Four Major Suppliers is a study on the European Gas Markets. When published it was felt that the world was at the beginning of a new and important chapter in the history of European Gas Markets. There is a wind of change as the markets are being opened to competition. The gas producing companies and the major European gas utilities faced the prospect of having to cope with high degrees of market risks. The implementation of both the EU gas and the EU electricity directives would ultimately upset the arrangements which have enabled gas to establish itself in Europe, develop during forty years and gain a large share of energy demand. Europe is rather unique in that its gas supplies come from four major countries where the producers are national oil companies. These are: Algeria, the Netherlands, Norway and Russia. Gas to Europe is largely concerned with the policies of these main suppliers. How have they dealt with gas development in the past and how are they now dealing with the changing circumstances of their markets? Commercial objectives and political forces play an important role in determining the behavior of these countries and their national companies, be it Gazprom, Gasunie, Sonatrach or Statoil. This book looked at the history of gas in Europe to assess how the forces of change will interact with deeply rooted economic behavior to generate new developments with far reaching consequences for energy markets on the Continent. The Contents are: Setting the Scene; Algerian Gas: Sonatrach's Policies and the Options Ahead; Dutch Gas: Its Role in the Western European Gas Market; Soviet and Russian Gas: The Origins and Evolution of Gazprom's Export Strategy; Norwegian Gas: The Struggle between Government Control and Market Developments; and What does the Future hold for the European Gas Business?