The Oil Drum

The same thing is happening in Russia. Putin is building an energy empire assuming that Russia's fossil fuel resources are inexhaustable. Almost nobody in Russia thinks seriously what will happen when the cost of the oil and gas production in Russia becomes so expensive that the process would not be economically viable regardless of the gas and oil prices in the international markets (remember that EROEI thing). Russia's oil production should be peaking second time within 3 years (maybe even this year) and the cost of natural gas for the Russian consumers will have to be raised to match its price in the international markets in only 10 years. This will make a large chunk of Russia's economy non-viable. The bottom line is, the outcome of the peak oil will be as disastrous for Russia as it will be for the US and the UK, and probably, even more disastrous because almost nobody in Russia is planning for the future without fossil fuels.