ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses Transneft, the monopoly for oil transportation by pipeline in Russia. Transneft’s operations are first and foremost relevant to domestic state–business relations, but its development has also influenced foreign policy. It is shown how Transneft increased the state’s infrastructural power in relation to Russian oil companies. The role had a foreign policy dimension. Avoidance of Russian oil transit routes outside Russia was possible because Transneft’s power could be used to compel Russian oil companies to finance pipeline projects on Russian soil. Kazakhstan in particular found it difficult to develop non-Russian transit routes to global markets. Transneft, therefore, in many ways symbolises the coercive, monopolistic side to Russia’s regional relationships.
