Simon Pirani
Senior Research Fellow

Simon Pirani, Senior Research Fellow on the natural gas programme, joined the Institute in September 2007, and is editor of its book, Russian and CIS Gas Markets and their Impact on Europe. His research at the Institute focuses on the development of natural gas markets, and changing consumption patterns, in the former Soviet Union. He is the author of a lengthy paper on Ukraine’s gas sector and a frequent commentator on Russo-Ukraine relations in the natural gas sphere. He studied Russian at the University of London, wrote a doctoral dissertation at the University of Essex, and is author of a monograph on Soviet history, The Russian Revolution in Retreat, published by Routledge in 2008. He worked in journalism and publishing since 1977, including a spell as editor of the UK mineworkers' trade union journal in 1990–95. He writes about energy, politics and the economy of the former Soviet Union in financial and industry publications including Gas Matters, Project Finance, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. His latest book Change in Putin’s Russia: Power, Money and People, was published in 2009.