Simon Pirani

Senior Research Fellow

Tel: +44 (0)1865 311377
Home office: +44 (0)20 8333 2152
Fax: +44(0) 20 8333 2152
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Expertise

The Ukrainian gas sector
Russian and CIS energy and economics issues

Current/Forthcoming Projects

Gas Consumption in the Former Soviet Union

Academic and Professional Experience

2006 –: PhD from the University of Essex.
1997 – 97: BA in Russian Studies from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London.
1974 - 95 – 95: Journalist and editor covering energy and industry in the UK and Europe, including as Editor of The Miner, the journal of the National Union of Mineworkers (1990-95).

Publications available from the Institute online bookshop

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The April 2010 Russo-Ukrainian gas agreement and its implications for Europe
by Jonathan Stern, Simon Pirani and Katja Yafimava, 2010. NG42 [0MB]

The Impact of the Economic Crisis on: Russian and CIS Gas Markets
by Simon Pirani, 2009. NG36 [0MB]

The Russo-Ukrainian gas dispute of January 2009: a comprehensive assessment
by Jonathan Stern, Simon Pirani and Katja Yafimava, 2009. NG27 [0MB]

Russian and CIS Gas Markets and their Impact on Europe
by Simon Pirani (Ed.), 2008. £50. OIES33

Ukraine’s Gas Sector
by Simon Pirani, 2007. NG21 [0MB]

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Simon Pirani: Gas Consumption in the Former Soviet Union

This has been argued that a crucial question for the international gas balance is "whether domestic gas prices in exporting countries will be raised to levels that encourage new gas development and efficient utilisation, even if those prices remain substantially below export levels" (Stern, "Gas as a transitional fuel", OEF February 2008). However there is little information about, or understanding of the impact on demand in producer countries of (a) price increases, and (b) other factors (inter-fuel competition, industrial structure, energy efficiency measures, institutional reforms, social attitudes (the perceived right to subsidised gas)). Research of consumption in Russia and Ukraine affords additional interest because they are among the most gas-intensive economies in the world. The assumption that rising prices provide a simple remedy for this will be questioned in the research. Falls in demand during the 1990s seem to have been in response to industrial slump rather than steep price increases. Initial indications in the period 2005-07, in Ukraine particularly, are that demand response to rising prices has been minimal. The hypothesis that over-consumption can be identified, and that it is as much a result of the lack of institutional reform, infrastructure and technical issues as a result of low prices, will be examined.

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