Abstract
The United States and the Soviet Union are the two major producers of energy in the world that are also major consumers. In production they rank second and first; in consumption, first and second, respectively. To an extent the policies of the two nations have been parallel, in part divergent:
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(a)
Each shifted rapidly in Post World War II years to oil, then oil and gas.
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(b)
Each has been affected by the belated realization that domestic supplies of oil and gas are exhaustible and that this fact of limits on hydrocarbon reserves must be taken into account in domestic economic policy.
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(c)
Each is affected by spiralling exploration, production, and transmission costs of primary energy.
Chief, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Congressional Research Service
Associate Director for Senior Specialists, Congressional Research Service
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References
Cf. V. A. Nazarevsky, “Ob itogakh energeticheshikh debatov” [Summing up the Energy Debates], SSHA: Ekonomike, Politika, Ideologiya (Monthly journal of the Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada of the USSR Academy of Sciences), No. 2, 1979, pp. 13–24.
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For example, “Higher Oil Prices and the World Economy: The Adjustment Problem”, Edward R. Fried and Charles L. Schultze, editors, Brookings Institution, 1975.
Although detailed documentation of the assertions in this section is not considered appropriate for a discussion paper, for reference, see UN/ECE, New Issues Affecting the Energy Economy of the ECE Region in the Medium and Long Term with addenda, dated 10 Jan., 18 Jan., 6 Feb. and 9 Feb. 1978; “Soviet Oil and Gas in the Global Perspective” by John P. Hardt, Ronda A. Bresnick and David Levine in Project Interdependence: U.S. and World Energy Outlook through 1990 Senate Committees on Energy and Commerce and House Subcommittee on Energy of the Commerce Committee, Nov. 1977.
See: Jonathan P. Stern, Soviet Natural Gas to 1990: Options and Priorities for Soviet Energy Export Policy and Strategic Implications for the West, forthcoming by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Johns Hopkins University Press. For useful Western sources on Soviet energy, also see: Robert W. Campbell, Trends in the Soviet Oil and Gas Industry, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. Leslie Dienes and Theodore Shabad, The Soviet Energy System, V.H. Winston and Sons, 1979. Jeremy Russell, Energy as a Factor in Soviet Foreign Policy. Levington: Saxon House, 1976. CIA: Prospects for Soviet Oil Production: A Supplemental Analysis, 1977. Also see: Bogomolov, Balkay, Dobrozi, Bethenhagen, Brandstetter (in this volume).
See Martin Kohn, “Soviet-Eastern European Economic Relations, 1975–78” and R. Dietz, “Price Changes in Soviet Trade with the CMEA and the Rest of the World since 1975” in Soviet Economy in a Time of Change forthcoming,for the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress.
The apparent switch in priorities toward West Siberian development has not, however, solved internal policy differences. A debate continues on where the greatest yield is to be found, and which regions should receibe scarce capital and labor resouces. According to Theodore Shabad and Leslie Dienes, “Even in the case of oil, where the proved reserve situation is least satisfactory, the problem is not seen as an absolute shortage of available resources or as a problem of import dependency. Rather, the ”energy problem“ in the Soviet Union is viewed basically as a question of supply and construction bottlenecks, investment requirements and lead times, retarding expansion” (see The Soviet Energy System, V.H. Winston and Sons, 1979 ).
M.M. Brenner, To Increase the Might of the Country’s Petroleum Flow. Novosibirsk, Ekonomika i Organizatsiya Promishlennovo Proizvodstva, No. 1, January-February, 1978, pp. 129–144.
See John Hardt, Ronda Bresnick and David Levine, “Soviet Oil and Gas in the Global Perspective”. Project Interdependence: U.S. and World Energy Outlook Through 1990 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Congress, November 1977. pp. 817–820, and Robert W. Campbell, “Implications for the Soviet Economy of Soviet Energy Prospects”, mimeographed paper, United States Department of State, September 1977, and Leslie Dienes and Theodore Shabad, The Soviet Energy System V.H. Winston and Sons, 1979, pp. 287–294, and CIA, Simulations of Soviet Growth Options to 1985 March, 1979.
See Brandstetter, in this volume.
See Balkay and Dobozi, in this volume.
Jeremy Russell, “CIA Too Gloomy over Russian Oil Prospects”. London, Times July 27, 1977, p. 23. Klaus Brendow, “Energy in Europe in the light of the world energy situation”, in this volume.
New York Times May 2, 1979, p. D-1.
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© 1980 The Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies
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Gushee, D., Hardt, J.P. (1980). Comparative Policy Issues of Two Major Energy Producing/Consuming Nations: US and USSR. In: Saunders, C.T. (eds) East and West in the Energy Squeeze. Vienna Institute for Comparative Economic Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05758-0_10
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