Limited Containment: US Policy On Russian Oil And Gas (1992-2017)

The core issue touched upon in this dissertation is how the United States has usedthe Limited Containment Policy to deal with the energy superpower Russia's developmentin oil and gas fieldsin thePost-Cold War Era.The policy embodies the Defensive Containmentin the exploration and production of upstream,the SelectiveContainment in the transportation and storage of middlestream,and the OffensiveContainment in the processing and sales of downstream.In the Post-Cold War Era,the U.S.international energy strategy can be roughly divided into three stages,namely,the pursuit of supply multiple stage,the striving for energy independence stage and the strengthening science and technology revolution stage.Because the U.S.policy direction of oil and gas,the oil and gas fields development of Russia and the evolution of international oil and gas system conditions are all different in the above three stages,the U.S.policiesof each stage for Russian oil and gas fields have significant differences:because of the goal of the participating in Russian and the interventionof the Caspian-Central Asia oil and gas fields during the pursuit of supply multiple stage,the policy was mainly aimed at the upstream;because of the goal ofweakening Russia'sinfluence on Europe Union during the striving for energy independence stage,the policy wasmainlyaimed at the middlestream;because of the goal of preventing Russia to be an Energy superpower during the strengthening science and technology revolution stage,the policy has been mainly aimed at the downstream.There are several special reasons for America's Limited Containment Policy to Russia's oil and gas fields.First of all,the U.S.has adopted theDefensive Containment Policy in the upstream becauseof Russia'sabsolute advantage in oil and gas resources endowment;moreover,the U.S.has adoptedthe Selective Containment Policy in the middlestream because of the balance of the EU-U.S.political relationsand EU-Russia economic relations;at last,the U.S.adopted the Offensive Containment Policy in the downstream because of its financial advantage over Russia.In America's Limited Containment Policy for Russia's oil and gas fields,the target is hierarchical,namely,preventing Russia to become a hegemony on the overall level,weakening Russia'sinfluence to Europe on the regional level,and taking advantage on the U.S.-Russia bilateral level;the method is combinative,namely,combining the technical advantage and the energy diplomacy,the military superiority and the geopolitics,the economic advantage and the dollar hegemony;the characteristicsis compound,namely,the stability of policy objectives,the variability of policy content,and the systematicness of policy method.In one word,the U.S.has formed the Limited Containment Policy for Russia's oil and gas fields in the Post-Cold War Era.