| Summary: | Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited === Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union, one of the world's strongest oil producing industries was divided into a few major oil provinces. The Russian energy industry has been adversely affected by this process. The process of change to the former Soviet oil industry including: Russian efforts to maintain control of its former resources, NIS resource development, Western capital investment, and environmental issues in the major oil provinces of the former Soviet Union, is the main focus of this thesis. Free market world oil majors and their counterparts, both in Russia and the New Independent States, have developed a number of significant alliances that have resulted in several potentially lucrative joint ventures. The coercive tactics that the Russian government resorts to in an effort to prevent its former republics from efficiently developing their reserves, and the position the United States must take to ensure these efforts are stifled will be addressed. A sound grasp of these critical energy issues by American policy makers will result in the development of these vast resources in a manner favorable to U. S. national interests. This will provide security for our strategic reserves and offer a viable alternative to the Persian Gulf resources far into the twenty-first century.
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