Abstract
Russia, the largest gas producing country in the world, maintains investments not only in new gas field developments in Sakhalin, Yamal Peninsula and the Arctic but also in the gas pipeline network to the new markets in Northern and Southern Europe and the Far East to cope with their increasing demand. However, at the planning stage plans of cross-border gas pipelines are facing various types of competition. Russia confronts competition of gas suppliers, for example Turkmenistan for the market of China, on the other hand Russia made China a gas-market competitor against the traditional European market, which allowed Russia to win a series of long-term sales and purchase agreements from European gas distributors. As the gas demand soars, Russia may notch a stronger position against both East and West due to its magnitude and flexibility of deliveries,which is being accomplished not through geopolitics but rather through competition in the market.
